Enugu Hospitality and Catering School

		Sector: Vocational Training Location: Enugu, Nigeria Local Partner: Women's Board                                                 Start of Partnership: 1992

Context and Considerations:

According to the World Bank’s statistics, 54% of Nigeria’s population lives on less than 1$ a day. The Nigerian women’s situation remains particularly precarious due to their lack in education and professional training. This compromises their personal as well as their professional development perspectives, forcing many into unemployment and other insecure situations.
Simultaneously, despite of its immense growth potential mostly due to business tourism, the hotel industry suffers from a lack of qualified employees and represents consequently an important employment opportunity for these women.

Solution Proposed:

In order to facilitate the socio-economic inclusion of Enugu’s girls and women, the Women’s Board association created a professional training centre in March 2007, with the IECD’s support. The project is co-financed by the European Commission and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implements two complementary components:
Firstly, this centre offers the women professional training, allowing them to acquire the necessary abilities which will consequently benefit them in getting a job. Each year, 90 women are being trained in hostelry and catering jobs. Another 100 students are being accompanied in the creation of their own business.
A group of touring teachers and educators is in charge of the other component. They cover several villages in which they are informing Nigerian women about healthcare, hygiene and community life issues. They also offer literacy classes as well as health consultations for the local women and children. This group tries to provide the women with solutions to their daily problems, thus allowing the women to improve their standards of living progressively.

Impact and Results:

The buildings which will host the training centre are being constructed. The second component has been launched and 250 women have already benefitted from the dispensed information. The women’s comity is working with the teacher team in order to promote the project and increase its visibility and impact throughout the region. An evaluation conducted by the European Commission in September 2009 noted that the project has already had a positive impact on raising the beneficiaries’ standard of living. It also states that a multiplier effect is expected because the project wants to extend the trainings to other villages in the Enugu region.