About the Project
ATHENA (Approaches To valorise the High ENtrepreneuriAl potential of migrant women to contribute to their social and economic integration) is a two-year project founded in order to contribute to the economic and social integration of migrant women in the EU society by improving the services of entrepreneurship support oriented to migrant women and creating a specific entrepreneurial path for them. The project will directly benefit 210 migrant women, it will increase the capacities of more than 35 professionals, it will create synergies with several organisations and it will finally intend to influence policies through a series of policy recommendations and Action Plans to be developed in the six regions in which the partners are located.

Partners
The project is implemented by a well-balanced and multi-disciplinary consortium of 7 partners, with complementary competencies, extended knowledge, and expertise: Chamber of Commerce of Seville (Spain) is the Lead Partner; INCOMA (Spain); Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP) (Greece); Chamber of Commerce of Siauliau (Lithuania); Consorzio NOVA (regions of Campania, Calabria, Umbria and Basilicata, Italy); Agency of the German Chambers of Commerce (Germany); and Digital Leadership Institute (Belgium).

Aims
1. The specific objectives of the project are the following:
2. To know the real demands and needs of migrant women regarding the entrepreneurial culture.
3. Improve the services provided by public organizations to migrant women on entrepreneurship.
4. Enable support to migrant women willing to launch a business activity, contributing to their economic and social integration.
5. Develop activities enhancing the social and economic integration of migrant women and promoting the entrepreneurial mindset of female migrants.
6. As an indirect objective, new business activities with great possibilities of success will be launched, contributing to the economic development of the regions in which the project is going to be  developed in the short term, and, in the long term, in those regions to which the project results will be transferred.

Athena as a Good Practice

• The Athena Project aims to put together forms of support to help overcome the numerous challenges that migrant women from third countries encounter both at personal and professional levels when they consider and even start an entrepreneurial activity. In sum, the following expected results make the Athena Project innovative and distinctive from other initiatives:
  Improved knowledge of the needs and demands of migrant women, which will complement previous works and research with additional fields of research and practical approach towards business support organizations’ services.
• Improved programmes supporting migrant women entrepreneurship. New services will be launched in each territory represented in the project, reflected in 6 action plans that will include an entrepreneurial path for migrant women ready to be adopted.
• More women integrated economically and socially. Only during the project duration, an expectation is that at least 30 women are targeted in the pilots in each participating region, which would represent a total of 210 women with increased entrepreneurial capacities.
  Improved capacity of professionals assessing migrant women. With the project, 35 officers and professionals will increase their capacities from several business support organizations, NGOs, and other organizations directly working with migrant women.
• Policy effectuation at different levels is facilitated by a series of recommendations. These policy recommendations will be based on the lessons learned during the project and will facilitate the transferability of the Action Plans or the adoption of particular measures within the policies of the different regions and countries in the European Union.

Digital Leadership Insitute

The Digital Leadership Institute is a Brussels-based, international NGO and a recognised world leader in promoting greater participation of girls and women in strategic, innovative ESTEAM (Entrepreneurship & Arts powered by STEM) sectors.