General Aims of the Project
The objective of the Project, “the Defeminization of Poverty”, is to develop a blended training program incorporating on-line and in-class training material, suitable for literate but in most cases educationally deficient small entrepreneurs and candidate entrepreneurs, aiming to reach primarily women (%75 Women, %25 Men). The Project seeks to address one of the fundamental issues transcending the broad economic integration of the EU member states and candidate countries, namely the extreme vulnerability of SME’s in general and more specifically, the overwhelming vulnerability of women-owned and operated SME’s as a critical subcategory.

The Project will provide 20 on-line courses subdivided into four modules, each supported by in-class courses. The curriculum will be developed with the contribution of all partners in the initial phases of the project. The product, i.e, the b-learning (blended learning: a blend of different learning techniques including electronic, traditional, applicatory learning) content will be tested on 300 participants in Romania, Greece and Turkey on a pilot basis and the performance will be closely monitored, using Learning Management System (LMS) software or surveys, virtual class usage and on-line tests. The pilot implementations will take place in four cities in Romania, eastern and south eastern regions of Turkey, and Greater Athens in Greece.

The Promoter (Kavrakoglu Management Institute), an expert in developing b-learning material for management and business administration, among others will be in charge of developing the on-line course material in particular and project management in general. Additionally, it will provide the software infrastructure such as LMS and virtual class development. Gaya, an expert on in-class training, will be in charge of developing in-class training material. It will also train the trainers in Romania and Greece, and implement in-class training in Turkey. IDEC, an SME specialist in consultancy business, will implement and monitor the Project in Greece. Timsoft, an IT and on-line training expert, will implement the Project in Romania.

The promoter, Gaya, Idec and Timsoft will be active in monitoring of the results as well. They will be supported by L&G Business in the curriculum/content development and monitoring phases. It is a company based in Romania and specializes in e-and b-learning and will act as the internal evaluator of the Project.

Valorization is the duty of all partners, and includes proper dissemination of the project objectives, progress and results to potential end users, SME’s umbrella organizations and relevant governmental bodies in order to ensure successful implementation, but also continuation of the Project beyond the initial 24 month period. Subito Research & Futures together with Kavrakoglu Management Institute will implement a set of valorization activities in the Baltic Republics and Poland as well. The intention of the promoter is to commercialize the end-product, subject to approval of EU commission.
It is expected that the output of the Project will help people, primarily women, with the potential of entrepreneurship to get a solid basis of general and practical management knowledge to support their experience in business, enhance their vision, open them to partnerships and cross-border activities, thus increasing their competitiveness. With minor modifications, the output will easily be applicable to other target groups in other countries and disadvantaged groups. Total budget of the project is 377.083 Euro The project has started on 01.10.2005 and will last for 2 years. The online courses will be ready on the 01st of June, 2006 and will be completed by entrepreneurs in 13 months. Subscription to online courses will be free of charge.