Here, Shana Marzilli—President and CEO of Plan International USA—outlines three key areas that any skills training program must include to build a better, more equitable future world of work.
What future world of work do we want for girls and women?
It’s something I think about a lot as both a mother of three daughters and a CEO Plan International USA — a non-profit organization for children’s rights and girls’ equality — and that’s what we’re asking our supporters for this year International Women’s Day (March 8th).
I hope that my daughters will be able to pursue careers of their choice regardless of gender stereotypes. I hope they start work in an environment where they feel safe to speak up. I hope that the future world of work is free from discrimination and inequality.
So how do we chart a course towards making these dreams a reality? One of the ways we address this at Plan is through our programs in over 80 countries — including an emphasis on skills training. We have more than 85 years of experience implementing projects in partnership with girls themselves in local communities around the world. And we have learned a lot.
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We want to share our experience so you can learn from it. That’s why we’re sharing these three key areas that any skills training program should include to build a better, more equal world of work in the future – for girls and for everyone.
1. Start with the girls in the center
Who knows more about user experience than your own customers? Designing solutions for the end user, also known as human-centered design, is one of the best ways to ensure that your programs are effective and fit for purpose.
Here’s an example of how Plan has found success using a human-centered approach to program design. In Ethiopia, we partnered with the US government and a global corporation to provide skilled labor for one of the country’s industrial parks. The most important industry in these parks is textile manufacturing, where the workforce is 94 percent female and 77 percent of workers are in the peak reproductive age of 18-24.
In 2023, the Plan reached over 600,000 people through skills and decent work programming, including Fatima. She is part of a Plan savings group created to strengthen women’s economic security. © Plan International
Many employees moved to take advantage of the job opportunity; but workers face significant barriers due to the nature of the work in the parks. Away from their traditional community support systems and pursuing non-traditional careers, working mothers struggled to balance caregiving responsibilities and work. As a result, they were leaving formal employment at high rates or failing to advance in their roles. Industrial parks began to underperform due to recruitment challenges, high turnover rates and reduced productivity.
In 2020, Plan International and its partners piloted a sustainability-focused, community-based childcare model to address the needs of women working for their providers in Hawassa Industrial Park. The resulting model is customized to meet the needs of the industrial park workforce, including scheduling service hours to match work shifts and offering programming to help working mothers navigate gender-biased norms in their families.
Hawassa Industrial Park is now home to children’s centers that support over 200 children each year. Workers report lower absenteeism, improved productivity, and increased work engagement—resulting in pay increases. Designing a human-centered program that meets the unique needs of women benefits everyone from workers to families to managers.
The plan’s signature human-centered approach to program design is called
GirlEngage: Rather than treating girls as passive participants or beneficiaries of our work, this approach involves girls as true partners – helping to design and implement programs that aim to improve their lives.
2. Train for a more sustainable future
When we asked our network of young leaders what they would like to see in the future, environmental issues came first.
“Climate change is not just a problem in Nepalbut a global problem,” says
Shikha, a youth defender of the Plan. “We need to think about how to create a space for eco-entrepreneurship, sustainable agriculture and to include women in environmental business.”
Plan programs around the world provide training today to make the world described by Shikha a reality tomorrow. For example, “The future is green! Promoting Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Rwanda” aims to economically integrate rural youth, especially young women, into the world of agriculture.
Through hands-on training, participants acquire valuable skills based on the adaptation of modern farming techniques such as fertilizer application and irrigation use, among other things. In addition, young women receive training on the value chain and labor market analytics — as well as protection and prevention of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse — to pave the way for a brighter future.
Alice has become well known in her area of Rwanda as a successful vegetable grower. She says much of her knowledge and entrepreneurial experience came from joining a green skills project run by Plan International. © Plan International
The project works with local services to provide and improve market-oriented agriculture and entrepreneurship training that is gender-responsive and youth-friendly and creates job opportunities for unemployed youth. Overall, the project will reach 900 youth through 10 technical, vocational and educational training centers and 10 agricultural cooperatives.
“Equipping young women with green skills allows them to compete in the job market,” says Alice, one of the program’s participants. “The technical training not only broadened my agricultural know-how but also fueled my future ambition to think big and beyond.”
3. Providing entrepreneurship opportunities for girls and women
Entrepreneurship can be the key to achieving economic gender equality. When women start their own businesses, they gain financial independence. Self-employment can also provide schedule flexibility, allowing women to balance work with other responsibilities. This is critical as women still shoulder a disproportionate share of housework and childcare.
That’s why Plan offers entrepreneurship training for young women designed to help them challenge these traditional gender norms, in addition to giving them the technical skills they need to start a business.
“I grew up surrounded by shrimp shells and the smell of seafood,” says Carmen. From the coastal province of Manabí in Ecuador, she now earns her living from the sea after helping to set up a women’s entrepreneurial organization with the support of Plan International. © Plan International
in Ecuador, Carmen (pictured) worked with Plan to create an entrepreneurship program for women in her community to help them build economic autonomy. Aimed at shrimp production, Seafood Processing Services Association was established to specialize in providing shrimp removal services to local packing plants. Carmen is one of 29 members of the association group, which is made up of mothers and other women from the area.
Carmen says her work with Plan has changed her life.
“My time is divided between my family, work, dreams, goals and my community service,” she says. “Thanks to this project, I feel that I have regained my power as a woman, my economic independence and I was able to support my home and my daughters. Today I am a free, authentic, powerful and happy woman.”
As we consider the future of our workplaces and the role of women in them, it is impossible to ignore the profound impact of investing in girls today. The work landscape is evolving rapidly and it is critical that we provide girls with the skills and opportunities they need to thrive in this changing world. By investing in programs that put girls at the center and provide the skills and entrepreneurship training needed for a sustainable economy, your business can help lay the foundations for a fairer and more prosperous future for us all.
As we celebrate International Women’s Day this year, let’s commit to creating a future world of work where girls and women are valued, respected and encouraged to reach their full potential. Together we can build a world where every girl has the opportunity to thrive and where gender equality is not just a dream but a reality.
Posted March 6, 2024 8:00am EST / 5:00pm PST / 1:00pm GMT / 2:00pm CET
/ This article is sponsored by Plan International.
This article, created in collaboration with the editorial team at Sustainable Brands, was paid for by one of our sponsors.
