Berlin (other cities in Germany are planned for implementation)
Timeline
Founded in 2016
Level of the practice
Regional
Type of activity
Mixed
Partnership implementing the initiative
Dr. Nakeema Stefflbauer is a US national, who is herself of Afro-Caribbean descent and the Founder & Director of this initiative. Dr. Stefflbauer works with two board members, who assist in the coordination and implementation of the training curriculum. The organisation has created a support group for women in tech which currently has over 600 members. Volunteers and alumni of the organisation are engaging as mentors for the new training participants.
Contents of the practice
The organisation Frauenloop was founded in 2016 specifically with the intent to train and qualify women & women-identified persons (and in particular immigrant/refugee) women for the tech industry. The organisation Frauenloop places its focus on immigrant/refugee women women identified persons due to the fact that this group is most likely to face obstacles in finding employment in tech industry sector. The organisation hosts a meet-up group, which offers support to 760 members in Berlin.
Evaluation of the practice
This best practice was chosen because it points not only to the subject of immigrant/refugee integration via social innovation, but it also has a focus on the issue of gender (marginalised women & woman-identified persons) and entrepreneurship. The project /best practice is a prime example of a social innovative measure that focuses not only on the needs of immigrant and refugee (woman identified) women, but also is helping to fill the gap between technology, women and computer programming competence. The organisation trains EU resident and immigrant /refugee women to participate in the digital economy in Berlin or in other cities in Germany.
Success factors: Graduates of this training program have become/become equipped with the necessary skills to secure employment and financially support themselves and their families as well as become contributing members to Berliner/Germany economies. In 2019, eight women out of thirty graduates who finished consecutive cycles at FrauenLoop were offered paid, fulltime positions in the tech industry. And six graduates in 2018 were offered fulltime paid positions with various reputable tech companies.
Adaptability & replicability to other contexts
One could imagine this best practice being implemented in the countries of our PPs. However, since I am not update on the tech industry in the PPs countries, I prefer to refrain from making a conclusive statement without having conducted more in-depth research.
According to the founder of this organisation, there does exist a similar organisation with a tech-training curriculum in the USA. However, the founder of the organisation Dr. Nakeema Stefflbauer believes that the organisation could indeed, be replicated in another context/country, but this would be dependent upon many things, i.e. the tech industry in other EU countries, the drive to diversify the industry and the desire/drive to create viable socially innovative solutions for accelerating the social & labour market integration for immigrants in the various countries.
Up-Scaling
The project targets a vulnerable and often overlooked segment of Berlin and Germany society over all. The project focuses on the empowerment of immigrant and refugee women and assists them in acquiring the necessary tools to become qualified in order to secure gainful employment. Further, these individuals are able to fulfil the demand for qualified IT employees in the Berlin’s IT industry.
