EU-supported TechGoGo Empowers Women Economically

Turaj Ibragimova is a single mother of two living in Marneuli. Her primary concern is the well-being of her children, yet she says, the economic empowerment of women is particularly challenging in the region of Kvemo Kartli.

‘For a long time, I was looking for digital marketing courses – I was keen to learn as I thought it would be a good employment benefit in the future. Yet, I could not afford taking a course financially’, says Turaj.

She later heard about the newly opened social enterprise TechGoGo in Marneuli that had been created with the support of the European Union and CSRDG and provided technological trainings and career advancement opportunities for women. As part of the training, she studied the theory of digital marketing, and is now having her practical training in an advertising company in Tbilisi.

‘After finishing the course, I’m going to get a job in my favourite profession, improve my financial status, and make life better for my children’, says Turaj who believes she feels more fulfilled.

Aida Uruchova, 22, is another participant of the TechGoGo project, who rejected the harmful tradition of early marriage that is popular in the region, and decided to get a university education. She is now finishing her second year as a student and TechGoGo has supported her in getting an internship in digital marketing.

I believe that TechGoGo will change my life for the better. It is an opportunity for me to have a good career, to become an integrated, successful and free woman, to be a role model to my peers and advise them to follow their dreams, study, overcome challenges and only after this start a family.

During the 6 months of TechGoGo’s existence we have trained 12 participants. The project gives them the opportunity to change their lives for the better and to become role models for women who feel like they have no opportunities in their lives. The project participants are interning in Tbilisi advertising agencies and later they will work in the advertising agency created by our enterprise.

“Unfortunately, in our region, girls have limited opportunities for personal development. I have always loved learning, so I decided to continue my studies. When I heard about TechGoGo, I realised that it was a great chance for me, and I had to use it,” says Aida. She believes that TechGoGo will change her life for the better. She wants to be a role model to her peers, advising them not to start a family too early but rather continue their studies and follow their dreams.

TechGoGo is strengthening and empowering vulnerable female communities. For this purpose, TechGoGo’s representatives work with single mothers and ethnic minorities in Kvemo Kartli, a region where women have very few opportunities for economic development, and face many more limiting factors.

“This is a unique social project that, on the one hand, retrains women in digital professions and, on the other hand, creates employment opportunities. As a result, women living in Kvemo Kartli have a chance to improve their economic situation”, explains Teo Kavtarashvili, the founder of TechGoGo, who says that the project has already trained 12 participants, and six of them are working as interns in different advertising companies.

Thus, TechGoGo empowers women living in the Kvemo Kartli to never give up on their dreams, be more courageous and take their first steps towards success and independence. In the future, TechGoGo’s founders want to replicate the project in other regions in order to offer more women chances for economic empowerment.

EU-GEORGIA

For more than three decades, the European Union has fostered a unique and close partnership with Georgia, supporting the country’s continued development through knowledge and experience sharing, expertise, innovation and financial support. The relationship between the EU and Georgia is based on shared values of peace, freedom, democracy, human rights and inclusive economic growth.

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