Thursday, March 28

How relevant is the women’s issue in the field of educational programs?

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Anna Palagina – Rector of the International Institute of Management of Business Associations of the CCI of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Economics on the relevance of educational programs for women.

We all remember that 2020 was a year of trials and made a lot of adjustments to our lives. Due to the coronavirus pandemic and the crisis provoked by it, a huge number of people were left without work. Women found themselves in a zone of special vulnerability. Kindergartens were quarantined, schools were transferred to distance learning, and it was mothers who, as a rule, stayed at home with their children. This circumstance has further intensified women’s discrimination in the labor market.

Today, women, who make up half of the world’s population and perform 66% of the world’s work, face the problem of unemployment to a much greater extent than men. Her level among the beautiful half is usually above average and higher than that of the strong half. There is no doubt that the level of competitiveness of women in the labor market is lower than the same indicator for men.

There is still an injustice in hiring. Employers ask whether potential employees plan to have children, and if the answer is yes, they often refuse. Mothers who are trying to get out of maternity leave and are looking for work are particularly affected. Their chances are small, because the presence of babies “guarantees” permanent sick leave.

According to the OPORA Russia survey, 84% of Russian women today are considering the possibility of entrepreneurial activity for themselves, and half of the respondents (50%) are ready to start their own business. The main incentives for entrepreneurship are “the prospect of obtaining more income than from employment” (53%) and “self-realization” (49%). The main barriers to starting their own business are the lack of financial resources (65%) and education in the field of doing business (48%).

Indeed, the lack of necessary knowledge becomes a serious barrier, both for starting your own business and for its successful implementation. Women, with their absolutely practical, sensible and responsible attitude to themselves and to the consequences of high-risk entrepreneurial activity, understand this. This is an objective assessment, on the one hand, of the practical significance of the quality of knowledge obtained in most universities that train specialists in entrepreneurial specialties. And on the other hand, another confirmation of the need for permanent, additional, mobile and practice-oriented business education. The CCI of the Russian Federation understands this well. That is why the Chamber has created and is working, responding, including to these challenges and needs, our institute.

Our permanent partner, the NAFI Analytical Center, conducted a study of gender inequality in Russia and found out what stereotypes prevent women from participating in the economy on an equal basis with men, and what is the probability of defeating them in the near future. NAFI analysts, among the measures to improve the situation, suggest launching “women’s” information campaigns on business, career and investment.

Many of them are aimed at making women believe in their strength: as many studies show, one of the reasons why women do not want to try themselves in business or finance is the fear that these areas are too complex and require special competencies.

Our joint accumulated experience and expert potential, first-hand information about the state of the labor market, about employers’ orders for certain types of professions and competencies, about the problems of the least protected social groups several years ago convinced us of the need to come out with a new project – the development and implementation of a new training program in the regions of the country where the effective work of the system of chambers of commerce and industry is noted. We called her “A woman in a new Profession. It is always possible to become successful!”.

The project is aimed at women with education who have lost their jobs, university graduates with no work experience, single mothers, mothers with many children, women raising disabled children, and is aimed at mitigating the existing problem of female unemployment – both structural and cyclical. The uniqueness of the initiative was that we knew firsthand about the discrepancy between the employers’ request for qualifications and competencies, on the one hand, and the proposed academic education, on the other hand.

The work was built not in the zone of contradictions, but in the area of intersection of interests. It is based on new professions that are in demand on the labor market, requiring minor professional retraining of women who already have basic education

The interest and involvement in the activities of the project of interested authorities, especially employment services and public chambers, proved the relevance and timeliness of measures to increase the competitive advantages of women in the labor market due to a higher level of their professional training. Last but not least, the effectiveness of programs implemented by the state depends on the availability of organizing structures and final performers on the ground. One of such large-scale All-Russian resources is our system of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Tasks of providing assistance to the state, business and citizens in the field of

the development of entrepreneurial initiative, training of specialists, creation of high–tech jobs are the basic directions of our activity. To date, the CCI System is a conglomerate of employers and consumers of services of citizen entrepreneurs. We accumulate the aggregate demand of the labor market, and we base our activities on it.

Our regional and local chambers perform the functions of organizations that form the infrastructure for supporting small and medium-sized businesses in accordance with Federal Law No. 209-FZ of July 24, 2007 “On the Development of small and medium-sized businesses in the Russian Federation”.

The key to the development of the economy and entrepreneurship has always been staffing. Therefore, along with building a system of regional and local chambers of commerce and industry, we have always systematically engaged in building a system of vocational education at the request of employers.

Corporate education of the system of Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Russia has unique and important advantages in the DPO segment – it unites a representative part of the professional community, has a developed infrastructure in the regions and gathers on business dialogue platforms those experts who are interested in improving the quality of educational services provided for businesses and citizens.

Our Institute is actively involved in the implementation of additional professional education programs for business:

On an ongoing basis, including under network agreements with the UDC CCI and partner organizations, the Institute implements more than 50 educational programs for businesses, entrepreneurs, CCI members, government and commercial organizations in the following areas:

  • procurement management,
  • mediation,
  • accountant,
  • HR specialist,
  • management of educational activities,
  • creating and launching an online store,
  • innovative methods of production optimization,
  • franchising,
  • a special DPO course for notaries and others.

More than 40 educational programs have been included in the list of training programs of the Ministry of Economic Development of Russia for training target groups within the framework of the National Project “Small and medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative”.

According to a recent RBC study, participants in the DPO segment note two main factors: an increased request for retraining and the formation of a professional community as a special career environment. Back in 2019, within the framework of the National Project “Small and Medium-sized entrepreneurship and support for individual entrepreneurial initiative”, the Ministry of Economic Development developed a mechanism for the implementation of training for existing and potential entrepreneurs. For this purpose, a list of recommended training programs and their copyright holders has been developed.

This list from the International Institute of Management of Business Associations includes two DPO programs:

  • “Exhibition Activity Management”,
  • “Business Communication Management”.

In 2021, 45 of our programs were evaluated by experts and submitted to the Ministry’s commission for consideration.

But, of course, we develop programs not only for business. With the submission of national projects, the quality, accessibility and variability of additional education for all categories of citizens are of particular importance. Our corporate institute of MIMOP and Training centers in most regions, presenting the system of DPO CCI of the Russian Federation, actively monitor the educational needs of the population, so we offer really relevant programs.

For example, within the framework of cooperation with employment services and within the framework of the National Project “Demography”: ANO DPO “MIMOP” and the Foundation for the Development of Professional Qualifications of the CCI of the Russian Federation are implementing educational programs of additional professional education for citizens of 50+ and women with children under 7 years of age under the contract with the Employment Center of Moscow, within the framework of the federal project “Employment Promotion” of the National Project “Demography”. In 2021, 375 people were trained in 4 educational programs.

Since July 2021, the Institute and the Foundation have been implementing their educational programs within the framework of the National Project “Demography” also in partnership with Worldskills and RANEPA. In 2021, 406 people were trained in 15 educational programs.

Also, the Foundation for the Development of Professional Qualifications of the CCI of the Russian Federation is forming and developing a system of independent assessment of professional qualifications:

Proposals have been prepared for the Plan of Normative Activity to improve the regulatory framework for the development of the National Qualifications System.

15 professional standards are being updated and 9 professional standards are being developed for various types of professional activity.

 

 

 

 

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