The project ‘Against racism and xenophobia by crossing the Mediterranean’ aimed at fighting prejudices and racist stereotypes through the creation of a free space of exchange of ideas and experience sharing. Of course, not everyone experiences racism in the same way depending on their origin or skin color, however, racism is also not perceived in the same way depending on gender. Women experience racism differently than men. The project also attempted to highlight this phenomenon.

The Spanish association AIFED and its Tunisian partner ONET / BRCV Sousse have sought, through the organization of debates and activities such as the human bookshop, to give voice to young people to understand the experience they have of racism.

Indeed, racism and sexism are linked because they are based on the same reasoning. The first establishes a hierarchy of one supposed race over another, while the second considers that there is a hierarchy of genders. These two beliefs are therefore based on a common ideology, an ideology of hierarchy. This link has also been established by a study of the psychologist Maite Garaigordobil from the University of the Basque Country in Spain, sexist people are more likely to engage in racist behavior, and vice versa.

In this sense, the project was keen to give special importance to the words of women who, in a way, "accumulate" discrimination. For example, it was noted during the human bookshop that black women were more likely to suffer both racist and sexist insults than black men. Indeed, black women suffer from a prejudice on a supposedly more advanced sexualization than women of other colors. They are therefore even more sexualized and objectified than others. This is reflected in the insults they suffer.

As an example, the black female Tunisian MP Jamila Ksiksi was called in late 2019 "slave" and "ugly". If one imagines a black man being called a "slave", one cannot imagine a black man being called "ugly". We can therefore see that prejudice and racist insults are added to sexist prejudice. It is therefore a double scourge that must be fought with all the more vigor.

On the other side of the Mediterranean, in Spain, black or veiled people also suffer discrimination. In particular in the housing sector, where black or veiled people or those with a foreign sounding name are more likely to be refused access to rental housing. It is known that foreigners are generally poorer and find it much more difficult to become homeowners, so they are dependent on renting. In addition, women often have dependent children, which makes their situation even more precarious if they encounter difficulties in obtaining housing.

Emilien Cazaban

Fem’trepreneur

AIFED would like to introduce you to the project ‘Fem’trepreneur’.

Women have been allowed to work by themselves very lately, if women don’t work, they can be dependent from their husband, or father. The female access to work has been a first step to their emancipation. However, economically speaking, women are, to a certain extent, still stuck under a glass ceiling. The problem is that there is a lack of female entrepreneur examples other women can be inspired on. In fact, the top 10 of world billionaires is 100% male. Also, there are a very few women in leading position in companies. After stating this, AIFED, with their several partners tried to bring a solution to the following question: How can the role of women as leaders be supported and what direction can be taken?

According to that purpose, the Anna Lindh foundation supports AIFED who coordinates the Social Entrepreneurship to empower Young Women ‘Fem’trepreneur’, in collaboration with System and Generation (Turkey) and Center of Capacity Building and Empowerment (Sweden). The name of the project immediately points out the action of the project.

The project, now completed, wanted to gather the Mediterranean countries of the Anna Lindh foundation, but not only! India, Sweden and many more have also participated.

Four online sessions have been organized. All online sessions have taken different forms: a lecture carried out by AIFED, debates, one about gender stereotypes, implemented by the Turkish partner, and another one about the importance of offering specific aid to women, by the Swedish partner, and also a roundtable moderated by AIFED. These sessions’ purpose was to discuss about the good practices in different countries, to discuss the problems faced by women entrepreneurs and to bring solutions.

More precisely, these sessions aimed to inform the participants of all the existing programs that could help them to boost their entrepreneurial competences, to fight against gender prejudices and stereotypes, to increase positive feelings and empower youngsters and women by showcasing examples of female entrepreneurs who had a positive impact on the society during the COVID19 crisis. Both company founders and presidents of social companies have been invited to this session to share their experiences with the participants.

Furthermore, this is an international program, sessions were also very keen to increase the collaboration among countries that are part of the Anna Lindh Foundation network. The collaboration between the Mediterranean countries is one of the clues of the project’s success and interest.  Indeed, the share of several different experiences, good practices from countries in this consortium can lead to triggering policies changes.

Finally, a space has been created to enable youngsters and women interested in becoming social entrepreneurs to share their experiences, fears, concerns, between each other. This space is the first step to further transnational cooperation.

Thanks to everyone’s cooperation, the project has participated in the progress of women’s emancipation by entrepreneurship, fighting stereotypes and prejudices. This project has been able to gather women from different countries and to promote the participation and empowerment of women in society.

Challenges

Project no. 2020-1-ES01-KA204-081988

The project Estrecomp - Introducing entrepreneurial competences - Entrecomp for adults living in rural areas, is progressing successfully.

The consortium of this project aims to foster rural activity as well as entrepreneurial skills and to be able to provide adult educators with the necessary tools and transfer them to the target group of the project, women, migrants and people with low qualifications.

While it is true that we can notice a certain increase of entrepreneurial activities in rural areas reinventing life in the countryside, because after suffering a pandemic, the future may not only be in smart cities. However, are they provided with the necessary tools? what facilities are available to those who wish to start up a business in rural areas, and what if those interested in undertaking this entrepreneurial adventure were women?

In order to achieve our research, the consortium have carried out local interviews to women living in rural areas in five cities that belongs to the consortium. The members of the consortium are: AIFED (Granada, Spain); Austrian Association of Inclusive Society (Austria); Systeme in Bewegung e. V (Winsen, Germany); Progetto Marconi (Torino, Italy) and European Alpe Adria Pannonia Cluster (Novi Sad, Serbia).

After data collection, it has been possible to clarify difficulties, needs, necessary support, as well as the experiences of these women and the benefits they have obtained once their projects have been launched.

In terms of difficulties, the most frequently mentioned is the economic and bureaucratic obstacle. Secondly, the lack of education received and the lack of access to information. In addition, most of the women interviewed mentioned the added difficulties of being a woman and an entrepreneur in a man's world.

Among the needs expressed, the lack of financing is the main obstacle for these women, followed by the lack of support from other professionals in the sector. We also mentioned the lack of social support in some cases, as these women carry out jobs that have always been considered to be men's work. However, other women interviewed tell us how they have served as an example for other women in their communities, which has helped them to continue with their projects.

As the main benefits of entrepreneurship, they highlight first of all the possibility of contributing something new and positive to the community and the benefits of living in a rural area. Finally, the women emphasise the feeling of freedom after having developed their businesses.

From AIFED, we consider socio-cultural values as key elements to overcome any disparity and we expose the benefits that society obtains from the contributions of any individual to a sustainable development of the rural environment.

The power of Storytelling

The project « The power of stories » (2020-1-ES01-KA227-ADU-095529) coordinated by AIFED (Spain) and implemented with the following partners AUGUST VERMEYLEFONDS (Belgium), CONTEMPORARY PLEVEN MEDIA FOUNDATION (Bulgaria) and EYROPAIKO INSTITOYTO TOPIKHS ANAPTYKSHS (Greece) aims to use the power of stories to ignite creativity and develop resilience skills and capacity to come up with innovative solutions for different challenges with adults.

Storytelling is an ancient art form and a valuable form of human expression. It uses words, gestures and physical movement, is an interactive way of communication, presents a story and encourages the active imagination of the listeners.

Telling stories never gets old, our minds need narration and stories nurture our brains with ideas, values and beliefs. It can largely influence how we think, how we make decisions and how we can persuade others with our ideas.

Actually, stories are the most effective way of organizing information and spreading ideas, it's a powerful way of communication and is a methodology that needs to be taught to the youth since it can really impact people and allow them to develop new communication and persuasion skills.

Stories have purposes, they need to be relevant to the experiences, values and interests of the targeted audience. They have to be clear and interesting to catch the listener's ears.

When you tell a story to your audience, the whole brain is mobilized. Not only the language or mathematical areas, but also the emotional and memory centres (limbic system); but also, the areas associated with sensory and motor perceptions, therefore your audience's brain activates the same areas as if they were experiencing the events narrated! The use of storytelling is the best way to make people have in mind what you mean and want to talk about and as a consequence convince your audience and make them relate to you.

AIFED truly supports this communication tool and believes in the power of stories and storytelling that is why the team is always working on innovative methodologies and aims at promoting the use of storytelling in the education field. This project promotes storytelling and the importance of stories.

Stories matter since they are universal, that is why AIFED aims at promoting storytelling practices, they help us to understand our place in the world, to comprehend other people's perspectives, they tell us how to act wisely and shape our perspective of the world. Listening to each other also builds empathy, forges trust, and creates deeper connections. It is also a highly effective way to unite emotions with meaning and intention.

Emma Revillet