New women’s entrepreneurship development project has been launched in Brest region

On December 4, Brest hosted a presentation of a new social project “Women Empowerment in Farming, Rural Tourism and Crafts”

The project is implemented by Belarusian Association “Country Escape” in cooperation with Brest Regional Executive Committee. The Coca‑Cola Foundation provided 95 thousand USD for implementation of the project.

The initiative is aimed at supporting women living in rural area in Brest region. Within the framework of the project, seminars, trainings and webinars will be organized for at least 500 women, primarily for foster women and women with many children, women raising children with special needs who are on maternity leave and other vulnerable categories of women who want to turn their farm, plot of land or hobby into a source of additional income.

Participants of the project will receive knowledge that will help them to start own business in the field of agritourism, handicraft or farming. After the trainings, the necessary equipment and consumable materials will be purchased for 50 participants with the best business plans. At the initial stage of establishing their business activities, women will receive assistance from experts. The project was launched in October 2019 and will last till April 2021.

The announcement of the project brought together more than 50 representatives of local authorities from the districts of Brest region, NGOs, the press, as well as the most successful businesswomen who shared their experience and are already actively talking about the project among their friends, colleagues and partners.

“Brest region ranks third in Belarus in the number of small businesses: as of 01.11.2019 – 44,3 thousand; in Minsk – 119,7 thousand; in Minsk region 60,7 thousand businesses”, – said Irina Fedchik, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on labor, employment and social protection of Brest regional Executive Committee.

Projects in Orsha district and Brest region are funded by Coca‑Cola as a part of global program “5by20”, which aims to make 5 million women all around the world successful by the end of 2020.