The Third Employment Program of "Connected Women" Has Been Completed

THE NUMBER OF "CONNECTED WOMEN" PROJECT TRAINEES WHO STARTED WORKING AT VODAFONE CUSTOMER SERVICES HAS INCREASED TO 63

Implemented by Vodafone Turkey Foundation and the Ministry of National Education Directorate General of Life Long Learning, the "Connected Women" project aims to support the development of women in the digital community and participation in the workforce. In this project, the third employment program has now been completed. Thanks to the project, 63 women began working remotely at Vodafone Customer Services.

Launched in collaboration with the Ministry of National Education Directorate General of Life Long Learning and Vodafone Turkey Foundation to bring the power of technology to the potential of women, "Connected Women" continues its employment process. Aiming to boost the digital skills of women over the age of 18, the project has now completed its third employment program. After the 43 graduates employed in the first and second stages, 20 more women started to work remotely at Vodafone Customer Services and received their first calls following the 25-day long basic training and orientation process. Thus, within the project, a total of 63 women were employed at Vodafone.

While evaluating the employment process, Mr. Sabahattin Dülger, the General Director of the Ministry of National Education Directorate General of Life Long Learning, stated:

"At the Directorate General of Life Long Learning, we believe that the most valuable natural resource of a country is people and continue to provide educational support to all individuals seeking to improve themselves, regardless of their wide range of abilities, ages, and education level. Accordingly, we, in collaboration with Vodafone Turkey Foundation, launched our Connected Women project, which has the first compound education model aimed at empowering women in the digital field. With the project, we have provided Digital Literacy and Digital Marketing training to over 5,000 women in 13 provinces. We gave women lifeline support by organizing project competitions to give them an opportunity to improve and implement the education they received. We supported women seeking to join the workforce, helping 63 trainees land jobs via our valuable stakeholder Vodafone Turkey Foundation. Considering the pandemic conditions, we congratulate our trainees who came to our public education center, received training, and continued to improve themselves with lifelong learning motivation. Also, we would like to note that our support will continue for the development of more women in 20 provinces in the upcoming project period."

Mr. Hasan Süel, the Chair of Vodafone Turkey Foundation , stated:

"At Vodafone Turkey Foundation, we believe that each work we do should serve a purpose. Therefore, we created the 'Connected Women' project based on our goal-oriented vision. We implemented a project that will contribute to our society's digitalization and support women's development. This project's goal is to improve the digital competencies of women and ensure their inclusion in economic and social life. We are happy to see that the women leveraging our project are one step ahead with the training they receive to adapt to the digital world and participate in employment. Moreover, we have completed our project's third employment program. After our 43 graduates employed in the first two stages, 20 more women have completed their essential training besides orientation training at Vodafone Customer Services, starting to work remotely and receiving their first calls. Thus, we have employed a total of 63 project trainees. We wish that the success story of our beneficiaries will inspire each woman. We believe that a better future is possible with the power coming from the unity of technology and people. With this vision, we will continue to create projects that touch human life."

Training for 12,000 women in 20 provinces

The "Connected Women" project aims to uncover the digitalization potential of women via various training programs. Within the project, women receive 24-hour "Digital Literacy" and 40 hours of "Digital Marketing" training. In the first year of the project, which entered its second year, over 5,000 women received education from 140 trainers in 13 provinces. While 5 million TRY of social value was achieved in this process, each investment of 1 TRY for the project yielded a social return of 5 TRY. The project aims to train 12,000 women in 20 provinces until the end of 2022.