VisionTo: make vocational education and training in the partner countries a driver for lifelong learning and sustainable development, with a special focus on competitiveness and social cohesion MissionTo: help transition and developing countries to harness the potential of their human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market systems in the context of the EU’s external relations policy

1. GOOD PRACTICE
IN WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING:
INTERFACING THE SBA ASSESSMENTS
AND ETF GOOD PRACTICE SCORECARD
OLENA BEKH
EUROPEAN TRAINING FOUNDATION (ETF)
ROME, ITALY
25-27 NOVEMBER 2014
#WELab2014
#ETFWEInspire

2. ETF – WHO WE ARE AND WHERE WE STAND?
AGENCY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
Vision
To make vocational education and training in the partner countries a driver for
lifelong learning and sustainable development, with a special focus on
competitiveness and social cohesion
Mission
To help transition and developing countries to harness the potential of their
human capital through the reform of education, training and labour market
systems in the context of the EU’s external relations policy
2

3. SOME FACTS AND FIGURES
3
ESTABLISHED
OPERATIONAL FROM
BASED IN
DIRECTOR
STAFF
BUDGET
PARTNER COUNTRIES
1990 (COUNCIL REG. 1360)
1994
TURIN, ITALY
MADLEN SERBAN
127 (APRIL 2013)
€20.14M (2013)
30

4. South Eastern Europe:
Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,
Kosovo*, former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia, Iceland,
Montenegro, Serbia
Turkey and Iceland
European
Neighbourhood and
Partnership Instrument
countries - ENP South:
Algeria, Egypt, Jordan,
Lebanon, Libya,
Morocco, Palestine,
Syria, Tunisia and Israel
Central Asia:
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan,
Uzbekistan
European Neighbourhood and
Partnership Instrument
countries - ENP East:
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Republic of Moldova,
Ukraine and Russia
4

5. MAIN PARTNERS
PRIMARY STAKEHOLDERS
 EU institutions
 EU Member States
 European social partners
 Stakeholders from the partner countries
SECONDARY STAKEHOLDERS
5
 International organisations
 Regional and geographic organisations
 International development banks
 Platforms, networks, NGO’s, education
training providers

6. FUNCTIONS
 F1: supporting the EU’s external assistance policies through
input to Commission sector programming and project cycles
 F2: supporting partner country capacity building in human
capital development
 F3: providing policy analyses through evidence-based
analysis; and
 F4: disseminating and exchanging information and experience
in the international community
6

7. THE SBA POLICY ASSESSMENTS
IN PARTNER COUNTRIES
……MEASURE WHAT MATTERS!
FROM 2009 – A NEW BATTERY OF WOMEN’S
ENTREPRENEURSHIP INDICATORS WAS INTRODUCED
INTO THE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK –
“THE ISTANBUL INDICATORS”
7

8. Human Capital indicators within SBA indicator package
8
SBA Policy Index Dimensions
1. Entrepreneurship education and training
2. Second chance
3. Rules for ‘Think Small First’
4. Responsive public administration
5. SMEs and public procurement
6. Access to finance
7. SME opportunities & EU Single Market
8. Skills & innovation
9. SMEs and environmental concerns
10. SMEs in growth markets
• Lifelong entrepreneurial learning policy
• Non-formal entrepreneurial learning
• Secondary and tertiary education
• Good practice
• University-enterprise cooperation
• Women’s entrepreneurship
• Enterprise training intelligence (data)
• Availability of training,
• Quality assurance
• Start-ups
• Enterprise growth

9. SMALL BUSINESS ACT FOR EUROPE
WORKSHOP ON INDICATORS FOR WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ISTANBUL, 18-19 APRIL 2010

10. SMALL BUSINESS ACT FOR EUROPE
WORKSHOP ON INDICATORS FOR WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
ISTANBUL, 18-19 APRIL 2010

11. SBA WORKSHOP ON INDICATORS FOR WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(ISTANBUL, 18-19 APRIL 2010) - STOCK-TAKING ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL POLICIES
Available:
• National policies for general support of employment/SME development (positive
impact of SBA process);
• Gender strategies or gender-related components are present in the national
policies.
Lacking:
• Comprehensive support to women’s entrepreneurship - no specific government
focus on women
• Economic and social empowerment of women entrepreneurs,
• Individual policy measures for women’s entrepreneurship – but they often remain
just recommendations on paper
• Lack of specific policies translates into the lack of statistical data on women’s
entrepreneurship

12. SBA WORKSHOP ON INDICATORS FOR WOMEN'S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
(ISTANBUL, 18-19 APRIL 2010) - STOCK-TAKING ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL POLICIES
 Women businesses are “ghettoized” in a narrow range of activities/sectors:
• They traditionally develop business (trade, shops, service and hospitality industry,
solicitors, lawyers, hairdressers, agricultural production, textile, book publishing,
craftworks – knitting, dressmaking /sewing, catering, etc).
• Women businesses are limited in growth due to being highly labour intense and
linked to their neighborhoods.
 Social attitudes and discrimination:
• Women often find themselves paid less for the same jobs.
• Under difficult life circumstances are more willing to take jobs that men refuse.
• Experience problems in moving to the leading/managerial positions and feel lack of
support in balancing/reconciliation of family and work-related responsibilities.
• Women often engage in family business activities (without formal employment,
registration, etc).

13. WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP INDICATORS 2012!
 POLICY SUPPORT FRAMEWORK FOR
WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING
AND SUPPORT
 FINANCING FOR WOMEN’S
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
 NATIONAL NETWORKS OF WOMEN
ENTREPRENEURS
13

14. SBA policy assessment regions
Eastern Partnership: Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine
WBT: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo,
Montenegro, Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Turkey
SEMED: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel,
Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Pelestine

15. ALL THREE LAST SBA POLICY ASSESSMENT REPORTS
FEATURE WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
2012 – EASTERN
PARTNERSHIP
2012 – PRE-ACCESSION
REGION
2014 – THE
MEDITERRANEAN
MIDDLE EAST AND
NORTH AFRICA
15

16. WE START TO SEE THE IMPACT OF SBA POLICY ASSESSMENTS…
 Increased awareness of the economic impact of better participation of women in
entrepreneurial activities as a response to social-cultural concerns and traditional
approaches to women’s employment
 Better understanding by governments and social partners of the data needs and
their lack across all SBA assessment countries in the view of raised appreciation of
evidence based approaches to policy development,
 Growing focus of policy discussions on the ways and approaches to human capital
aspects of women’s entrepreneurship and the role of training and mentorship in
it,
 Augmented attention of stakeholders to the links between sound policy and good
practice, and as a result – more sustainable policy partnerships and more
effective policy implementation measures allowing practitioners to shape the
policies.
16

17. EVOLVING ENGAGEMENT OF ETF INTO THE
WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP WORK
Development
of SBA policy
framework on
Human Capital
SBA policy
assessments
Developm
ent of new
indicators
on WE
Piloting and
revising the
assessment
instrument
Good Practice
project
(includes WE)
Defining our
position re:
WE Policy
area
Consolidating
and
supporting
collective
action
What’s best
to do
NEXT?
SBA policy
assessments

18. THE POLICY-PRACTICE NEXUS
POLICY
PRACTICE

19. ETF’S GOOD PRACTICE WORK • Development of the tool kit
for validation (peer review)
of good practice
• Main focus on Human
Capital: Entrepreneurial
Learning and Enterprise
Skills
• Three phases of piloting
and improving the
methodology (2012, 2013
and 2014)
19

20. A COMMUNITY OF GOOD PRACTITIONERS IS
GROWING!
ARMENIA
EGYPT
FRANCE
GREECE
HUNGARY
IRELAND
ISRAEL
THE NETHERLANDS
PALESTINE
SWEDEN
TAJIKISTAN
20

21. THE PROJECT TO DATE
• CREATING NEW CAPITAL FROM TRAINING PRACTICE
• IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY MAKING
• USE OF PEER REVIEW METHOD – AND GOING VIRTUAL(!)
• PILOT PROJECT KICK-OFF 2012
• FINALISATION 2014
• LAUNCH 2015
• 3 CALLS SO FAR: YOUTH, WOMEN, SME SKILLS
• IMPROVEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS, ELABORATIONS FOR PEER
REVIEW (PREPARATION, PEER REVIEW PROCESS, TOOLS, USE OF
PLATFORM)
21

22. THE GOOD PRACTICE ASSESSMENT GRID
FIVE GOOD PRACTICE DIMENSIONS
• TRAINING NEEDS ANALYSIS (RELEVANCE)
• TRAINING DESIGN (TRAINING CONTENTS,
PEDAGOGY)
• TRAINING ENVIRONMENT (INFRASTRUCTURE, STAFF)
• M&E AND IMPROVEMENTS (CRITICAL REVIEW)
• MARKETING (DISSEMINATION)
22

23. THE GOOD PRACTICE ASSESSMENT GRID (2)
• EACH DIMENSION COMPRISES 5 LEVELS (INCREASINGLY
DEMANDING)
• EACH LEVEL COMPRISES A NUMBER OF CRITERIA
(BULLETS)
• PEER REVIEWERS DETERMINE IF CRITERIA ARE
SATISFIED (QUESTIONS, EVIDENCE)
• EACH CRITERIA/BULLET HAS A QUANTIFIABLE SCORE
23

24. EXAMPLE…
24

25. 25

26. THE SCORING SYSTEM
SCORING
• EACH BULLET HAS A QUANTIFIABLE SCORE
• SCORES ARE EXPONENTIAL: INCREASED VALUES WITH HIGHER LEVELS
• SPECIFIC CALL INTEREST AREA (ACCESS TO FINANCE)
HOW TO SCORE
• PEER ALLOCATE SCORES TO EACH LEVEL (ALL DIMENSIONS)
• SCORES ARE SUMMED AND AVERAGED FOR PEER TEAM (CHAIR)
• THRESHOLD: 12 POINTS PER DIMENSION + 60 POINTS IN TOTAL
• GOOD PRACTICE STAR SYSTEM
26

27. THE STARS … AND THE SKY IS THE LIMIT!
Good Practice Star System
• One Star: good practice
• Two Stars: very good practice
• Three Stars: excellent practice
27

28. ETF’S POLICY ANALYSIS AND ADVICE
A POLICY BRIEF OF WOMEN’S
ENTREPRENEURSHIP 2013
WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP POSITION PAPER
2014
28

29. ETF POSITION PAPER IS DISCUSSING THREE QUESTIONS:
1. Why women’s entrepreneurship is important and why
does it require targeted support?
2. What are the key issues about women’s
entrepreneurship and what would be their specific
support needs?
3. What can be done: how can policy makers and
practitioners engage the challenges and what ETF can
do?

30. And what is behind the striking figures on WE?
Eastern Europe and Central Asia - 36.6% of business owners are women,
Pre-accession region - as low as 27.5%
Southern and Eastern Mediterranean - bottom out at just 17.2%.
The top performers in female business ownership among the ETF partner countries are:
Kyrgyzstan 60.4%
Moldova 53.1%
Belarus 52.9%
Ukraine 47.1%
Georgia 40.8%
Turkey 40.7%
WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN SOON WHAT’S BEHIND THESE NUMBERS!
30

31. ACCORDING TO ETF ANALYSIS…
1. WOMEN AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP KEY COMPETENCE
• FOLLOWING TRADITIONAL ROLE MODELS
• WOMEN ARE A MORE “EDUCATED” PART OF A MANKIND BUT LACK SELF-EFFICACY
• OFTEN UNAWARE OF HAVING ENTREPRENEURIAL POTENTIAL
• TRYING TO PUT ON “MAIL” ENTREPRENEURIAL ROLES…
2. MARKET CONDITIONS, INSTITUTIONS AND LEGAL BARRIERS
3. WORK–LIFE BALANCE FACTORS AND CONSIDERATIONS
4. SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTORS EFFECTING WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP
• STEREOTYPES, FAMILY AND PEER PERCEPTIONS
• EXISTENCE OF A LARGE INFORMAL ECONOMIES AND CRISIS FACTORS
• DISCRIMINATION IN SOCIETY AS A RESULT OF SOCIAL, CULTURAL OR RELIGIOUS FACTORS

32. PUTTING ALL ENDS TOGETHER… WHAT DO WE DO?
ETF’S APPROACH:
Focus on the human capital areas of policy and practice is needed - to
target specific needs of development of women’s entrepreneurial potential
as compared to general SME support measures and instruments.
SELECTED POLICY DIRECTIONS:
• Raising policy awareness
• Access to highly effective and gender sensitive education and training
• Focus on mentoring, coaching and network support
32

33. EXPECTED OUTCOMES OF THE WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP LABORATORY
1. New knowledge and reinforced good practice networks to support
“entrepreneurial women’s human capital” and strengthened cooperation links
between the EU and the ETF partner regions – with focus on Eastern Partner
region, involving a broader EU neighbourhood.
2. Increased understanding of the complexity of challenges and variety of policy
approaches and practices to develop women’s entrepreneurship “ecosystem”.
3. Increased awareness of the importance of digital competence for women
entrepreneurship support agents, in the Eastern Partner region.
4. Recommendations for future programmes and measures at international,
regional and national levels to boost women’s entrepreneurship in the Eastern
Partnership and increase the impact of the SBA process on the policy and
practice in the region.
5. Launching the ETF Good Practice Women’s Entrepreneurship community!
33

34. QUESTIONS TO:
NAME: OLENA BEKH
EMAIL: OBE@ETF.EUROPA.EU
PHONE: +39 011 6302233
WEBSITE: WWW.ETF.EUROPA.EU
TO BE CONTINUED! ETF ENTERPRISING PEOPLE