Social challenge and reasons for project’s initiation

Immediacy of the social problem

1. It is difficult for women with little children to return from maternity leave and combine their motherhood with their job and professional growth. The time away from work has a negative effect on their professional qualifications and business communication skills. It is hard for them to maintain a proper work-family balance. Working together with local government bodies, NGOs and communities, Status:Online coordinators have developed a realization that women on maternity leave can often benefit from advanced training.
2. Local job centers could only offer training courses for women on maternity leave (meaning their children were under three years old), whereas we have received similar requests from women whose children were older.
3. The government has adopted the National Action Strategy for Women 2017-2022.

External reasons for project’s initiation

Status:Online for Women contributes primarily to SDG 5 (gender equality), as well as to SDGs 4 (quality education) and 8 (decent work and economic growth).

Internal reasons for project’s initiation

Philip Morris International (PMI) has been running charitable programs in 60 countries for five decades. We seek to contribute to resolving the most acute problems in the regions where we operate. Developing our business in Russia in a responsible fashion and having created 3,900 skilled jobs in 100 cities, we have been actively pursuing CSR and charitable activities for decades.

Sustainable development goals are a crucial part of our Company’s strategy. In 2016, PMI joined the UN Global Compact national network. Our charitable projects and programs are implemented in partnership with reputable and efficient NGOs and are aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Status:Online is a joint program by CAF and PMI Russia, which has two components:

• Computer, financial and legal literacy training for elderly people and people with special needs (launched in 2013)
• Advanced professional training for women on maternity leave or women with children under 14 (launched in 2016)

Coverage

• Nizhny Novgorod
• Samara
• Volgograd
• Chelyabinsk
• Altai Krai
• Yuzhno- Sakhalinsk

Project description

Selection criteria and implementation

Key criteria for joining the program:

• Women with children under 14 years old
• Motivation to seek professional growth as an employee, entrepreneur or self-employed person
• College degree
• Basic computer skills

In addition, we considered whether a woman could get a job or join a retraining program through a government job center, lest we duplicate their efforts.

Criteria explained:

• If a woman has a permanent contract with her current employer, government job centers will only assist her until her child is three years old.
• In order to receive advanced training or acquire useful professional skills, one has to have a profession.
• IT skills are important, because without basic computer skills one cannot learn remotely and receive advanced training.
• Personal motivation is one of the key criteria; without motivation, it would be impossible for the program to achieve its goals.

We use several formats of training:

• online and in-class courses
• psychological sessions
• webinars
• in-class educational events

Remote learning is a combination of multimedia, texts and an evaluation system. Women had 24/7 access to materials, so they could study whenever it was convenient for them. With online courses, one can not only watch a video but also download certain materials.

Organization offering online courses as part of the program are properly certified as educational institutions, which is particularly important for participants when they apply for a job. Participants were offered the following online courses:

• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Social media marketing (SMM)
• Small business administration
• Public relations
• Human resources
• Private sector accountant
• Public sector accountant
• Government and municipal procurement
• International trade
• Entrepreneurship
• Marketing and pricing
• Credit and insurance
• Photography
• Floristry
• Makeup
• Gardening
• Chinese massage

Legal issues: Participants received consultations on labor, family and civil law. The main subjects included: vacation, switching jobs, termination of employment, maternity benefit, flexible work hours, buying a house, getting children into a daycare center.

Looking for a job: Participants learned where to look for job opportunities (job centers, recruitment agencies) and how to get professional training to qualify for a better job. They learned how they can use their maternity leave to get advanced professional training. Psychological sessions on how to resist manipulation were particularly popular with women. People looking for a job are often afraid of their potential employer, the person who picks candidates; they are afraid of failing, being rejected or cheated. The purpose of these sessions was not only to tell women about the actual situation on the job market but also to help them cope with their fears when they go for an interview. Such training helps women relax and feel more confident at the interview, which improves their chances of being hired.

One of our goals was to stimulate women’s entrepreneurial aspirations. We had sessions on self-employment, entrepreneurship and small business. For women who are thinking about starting their own business, we had special business classes. These classes helped women acquire necessary business skills, get some theoretical knowledge and learn some practical skills for doing business.

Support projects

We also had additional events for participants, encouraging them to seek economic opportunities, start their own business or become self-employed, look for jobs with flexible hours or telecommuting opportunities.

• Additional in-class sessions to review what they learned remotely.
• MAMARYADOM festival in Samara (3,600 participants), which offered workshops on personal growth, job hunting and active lifestyle.
• Mom+Job project in Volgograd
• BusinessMom: a fair of products, works and services offered by Status:Online participants in Nizhny Novgorod
• Master classes on promoting your business online and on social media
• Business Mom Club in Nizhny Novgorod brings together women who either have their own business or are thinking about starting one. The primary purpose of the club is to support active mothers by helping them come up with good ideas for business, or build partnerships, or expand their customer base.

Team and partners 

Team

Tatyana Yakovleva, program director, CAF

Partners

CAF runs the program at the national level. In addition to that, we have local NGOs coordinating the program at a local level. They were selected through a bidding process. Annually, the program organizes a closed contest to select local NGOs which will coordinate the program in their areas. A total of 24 NGOs have acted as local coordinators:

1. Social Rehabilitation, Nizhny Novgorod
2. Sakhalin Oblast Library, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk
3. Municipal Libraries, Volgograd
4. Good Stories Foundation, Samara
5. Development Foundation, Rubtsovsk, Altai Krai
6. Good Work Stories, Chelyabinsk

Online classes on professional skills were offered by local coordinators together with Social Rehabilitation, Urals Advanced Training and Retraining Institute, Open Education (Volgograd) and Siberian International Trade Center (Novosibirsk).

For in-class sessions, we worked together with the Rubtsovsk branch of Polzunov Technological University, the Rubtsovsk branch of Altai University, and the Chelyabinsk branch of Znanie.

Resources

Human resources

We use specialists in various professional areas for the purposes of the program – to design online courses, etc.

For in-class sessions (including master classes, workshops and training sessions), we use volunteers – job center specialists, experts from private companies, successful business ladies.

Also, program alumnae often return to help new participants as mentors.

Technological and material resources

For the purposes of the program, we purchased three computers and one printer. Also, we designed four online courses.

Achieved results

Immediate results

Over 2,500 women have taken retraining courses since the program was launched. In 2018, 890 women participated in Status:Online.

Social results

Social results are evident from the beneficiaries’ feedback forms – see the next section, Internal Evaluation.

Internal project assessment

In 2018, we assessed the social return on investment (SROI) of Status:Online for women in Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. We also estimated the purely economic effect of women’s participation in the program. The key SROI indicator amounted to 4.37, which means that the program is effective both economically and socially. For example, 62% of the women who were unemployed at the time they joined the program got a job, and their monthly income grew by 8,000 rubles on average.

In order to assess the level of satisfaction among beneficiaries, we polled women on their participation in the program and the new opportunities they got, including jobs. The results show that all the changes that happened in women’s lives were positive. Women mentioned primarily changes in their emotional state and business activities. Many women said the program either helped them increase their income or provide a boost for their professional development. Some of them joined other development projects after learning about them from program organizers. Many women said they appreciated the opportunity to study online, because this gave them 24/7 access to materials, and they could go back to the materials they studied earlier to refresh their memory.

External project assessment

Feedback from beneficiaries:

Project’s distinctive features and know – how

What makes our program special is that we use a combination of formats: online and in-class courses, psychological training, job hunting hints, entrepreneurship and self-employment promotion meetings. This way, participants not only enhance their professional skills but sometimes reconsider their career path.

Also, the program works closely with local partners, and this helps participants to meet new people and possibly make professional contacts.

The program actively uses online courses, which is very convenient for women with little children. Women can study at a time which is convenient for them. If there is a webinar which they are unable to watch live, they can always watch it later.

Challenges and solutions

Since the program is very popular among women with little children, we receive a lot of applications. We have made some changes to our event schedule and added some new activities, so we can take in as many women as possible. For these additional events, we brought in our alumnae from previous years as volunteers. We also reached out to local associations of business women.

For some women, it is problematic to attend events in person, because they don’t have anybody they can leave their children with. Different cities addressed this problem in different ways: in Nizhny Novgorod and Volgograd, we arranged special activities for children while their moms attended our events. In other places, we organized events in the evening or on weekends.

Plans of further development   

We plan to continue, add more courses to our program and organize communities for our alumnae.

Recommendations

It is very important for programs like ours to have clear selection criteria. Motivation for getting a job or becoming self-employed should be an absolute requirement.

The program should build extensive partnership with various local entities: government bodies, NGOs and businesses. Also, it is necessary to work closely with job centers, HR departments and professional schools.