The European project G-FEB — Green transition of Female Entrepreneurs in the Balkan had its official kick-off last week with a transnational meeting hosted by AAIE Albania in Tirana. The meeting was a great opportunity for all project partners to meet and exchange experiences related to present situation in green entrepreneurship, Vocational Education and Training (VET) system and future joint activities.

The G-FEB project reference number 10112896, funded by Erasmus + programme of the European Union under the call ERASMUS-EDU-2023-CB-VET, aims to improve the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system in the Balkan region by creating innovative, market-specific training solutions. These solutions will offer lifelong learning opportunities and promote the development of green and sustainability skills among female entrepreneurs. The project addresses several challenges in the Balkan region and Turkey, including low-quality vocational education and training, unemployment rates, particularly among women and vulnerable groups, skill mismatch with the labor market and a lack of green initiatives.

In the next two years this project will be implemented by lead organization Syndesmos Epicherimation Gynaikon Elladas from Greece and partner organizations Shoqata Shqiptare e Ambientalisteve Industriale and Dhoma Ekonomike e Grave te Shqiperise from Albania, Association of Business Women in B&H from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Association of Business Women  from North Macedonia, Association of Business Women Crna Gora from Montenegro, Türkiye Kadın Girişimciler Derneği from Turkiye and Best Institut fur Berufsbezogene Weiterbildung from Austria.

Additionally, the implementation of this project will enhance the quality and relevance of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) system by developing more responsive and inclusive mechanisms that meet the needs of the labor market through cooperation and exchange of good practices among VET providers, employers, policymakers and other stakeholders as well as by supporting the development of innovative curricula, methods and tools for VET delivery, market-specific training solutions and provide G-FEB open learning platform.

By enhancing the skills, competencies and attitudes of current and future female entrepreneurs, and strengthening the cooperation and exchange among different actors in the entrepreneurship ecosystem G-FEB will contribute to the social and economic development of the Balkan region.