04-03-2021 | di COOPI

Ecuador. COOPI and ILO support entrepreneurial training for 169 people

In the framework of the “Integrated project” (“Integration of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in Ecuador: Continuous support to provide information on protection services, employment opportunities and access to decent living conditions to Venezuelan refugees and migrants”), funded by the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (BPRM) implemented by COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale together with AVSI in the provinces of Pichincha, Manabí and El Oro (Ecuador), two inaugural sessions were held last Wednesday, February 17, in a virtual manner for the entrepreneurship courses that will be implemented in coordination with the International Labour Organization (ILO).

It is worth noting that more than 90% of the beneficiaries of these courses are people in a situation of human mobility, of Venezuelan and Colombian origin, with more than 75% being women. In addition, 8% of the participants in this entrepreneurship initiative are part of the host population. In summary, a total of 169 people will benefit from the different courses that have just opened.

These trainings will be developed under the IMESUN methodology, which is the ILO's largest global business management training tool. This methodology focuses on the development of competencies to start new businesses and, through digital tools, generate opportunities to create and improve their sources of employment for the most vulnerable people, either by recovering or improving their current businesses, as well as creating their own employment through entrepreneurship.

In this way, it seeks to strengthen their skills and guide them to find mechanisms that allow them to generate their own income in a sustainable manner. In addition, the inaugurations were attended by María Isabel Sánchez, ILO National Project Coordinator, Luis Stacey, COOPI Integrated Project Coordinator, Magaly Peña, ILO Senior Labour Integration Assistant, as well as two entrepreneurs, Esperanza Rivera and Darwin Durán, as success stories of previous ILO programmes.

Since September 2020, COOPI has been intervening in the livelihoods sector through the Integrated Project, which offers training services through qualified entities in employability and entrepreneurship, developing technical and soft skills, as well as financial and business education. On the one hand, it assists and supports the employability of the beneficiary population (Venezuelan people in human mobility and Ecuadorian people in vulnerable situations) through alliances and agreements with private companies and employment exchanges, thus acting as a provider of trained profiles to fill vacancies and access to decent employment opportunities. On the other hand, adapted business plans will be designed to meet market demand in the specific location, in order to increase the ordinary income of the target population.