Problem addressed

Vulnerable women, displaced families and marginalised communities face long-term unemployment, social exclusion, limited access to training, and psychosocial stress. Traditional services often fail to reach them due to language barriers, low digital literacy, stigma and lack of community-based delivery models.

Innovative solution

The project introduces a community-embedded, low-threshold training model that integrates employability skills, life skills and psychosocial support. It uses peer learning, volunteer professionals, culturally adapted content and safe community spaces to remove access barriers and create sustainable social inclusion pathways.

The innovation has been adapted and implemented in different local contexts, including community-based initiatives in the Netherlands and preparatory implementation in Middle Eastern contexts addressing displacement-affected communities. While maintaining the core model of inclusive, low-threshold skills development combined with psychosocial and social inclusion support, the project has been locally adapted to respond to language, cultural and socio-economic needs of each target group.

Adaptations include culturally tailored training content, flexible delivery formats for low digital literacy communities, and integration with local volunteer networks and social service providers. This demonstrates the model’s strong transferability and potential for further replication and scaling across Europe and neighbouring regions.

Key results and benefits

Over the past period, our volunteers have already provided hairdressing training to around 30 women through informal community sessions. These activities focused not only on practical hairdressing skills, but also on confidence, social connection and feeling more at home in Dutch society.

In addition, Stichting DOING organised several integration and employability workshops under the initiative “Bridging Cultures Together: A Collaborative Integration Project”, in cooperation with Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights. Through these workshops we supported refugees with understanding Dutch society and work culture, developing employability skills, overcoming common barriers, and strengthening intercultural understanding with local community members.

Based on this existing grassroots experience, we are now professionalising and scaling this model into the structured POWERWOMEN Eindhoven programme, with certified hairdressing training, internships and direct pathways to work and self-employment.

Potential for mainstreaming

The model is low-cost, flexible and highly transferable. It can be mainstreamed into municipal integration services, NGO programmes, and ESF+/Erasmus+ funded initiatives across Europe and neighbouring regions.