Women Work Wonders

After a rigorous community survey and selection of the 10 women participants for the program, the project team has taken up the following activities:

1.  Physical inspection and verification of mentor establishments: 

   Mentors were chosen based on the career aspirations of the selected participants. Five mentors across Fashion Designing, Hairstylist, Beautician, Catering and Nursing were selected after an inspection of the location based on a scoring grid. Additionally two social workers were onboarded to handhold the participants and tide over personal issues during the training period. 

   The mentors scored the following scores according to the scoring grid.

   • Tinamake Catering services (Catering) :   2+2+2+2+2+3 (13)
   • 3pleA Beauty world (Hair Stylist) : 2+2+2+2+5+3 (16)
   • Agbado Health Center (Nursing) : 2+2+2+2+5+3 (16)
   • BEATRIXX PRO ENTERPRISES (Beautician) : 2+2+2+2+2+1 (11)
   • BISSY YEMMY STITCHES (Fashion Designing) : 2+2+2+2+5+3 (16)

     The support team did face a few challenges while finalising the mentors

1. Certain establishments were closed by the time of inspection or supervisors were missing.
2. Addresses were wrongly provided during surveys which made it difficult to locate some of them

        Ultimately, those mentors who were located close to the mentees and had the required         infrastructure as per the grid were selected.

1. Induction program: 

   The induction program to onboard the selected mentors, mentees and the social workers was held on 20th February 2021 and was hosted live on our Women Work Wonders Facebook page. The mentees were mapped to their respective mentors and social workers during the event. 

   During the induction a briefing of the project was done, one-one interaction between mentors and their mentees was arranged and the support team addressed questions and queries from the stakeholders. 

2. Commencement of training and monitoring

   On-the-job training for all the mentees commenced on 8th March 2021 at their respective mentor locations. Google forms to collect weekly reports from each of the stakeholders has been prepared and shared with all of them. Additionally, the support regularly makes spot inspection of the mentor locations to bring in quality control and regularity in training. The social workers are also required to visit the mentor locations during training and check upon the participants.

   Observations:

   1. Regularity to classes - owing to personal commitments and increased household work and childcare. The mentors are hence flexible with training hours to encourage continuous participation from the mentees
   2. Certain skills (eg: tying a gele) needs a lot of patience and can get stressful, yet with regular practice the mentees would learn a very valuable skill
   3. The mentees were initially hesitant to communicate directly with their mentors when they needed flexibility or change in training schedule, but with time and the help of social workers, they are now more comfortable communicating with the mentors.
   4. Visits to the mentor locations by the social worker

    

What’s next?

One month of On-the-job training has been conducted for the participants and it is time for assessments. The project team has decided to host the monthly assessments online on our Facebook page.

We look forward to sharing more updates with all our donors and supporters!

Extending a big virtual hug around the world,

Team Women Work Wonders, Nigeria

Links:

• Women Work Wonders, Nigeria Facebook page