Gateway to Progression

The aim of the project was to progress the women on to employment or further education by building their confidence and skills

The project targets young women who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and provides a selection of unique learning experiences:

Creative industry training
DJ and music courses
A residential leadership challenge experience

1. The Talent Tribe

Creative industry training that encourages, inspires, and develops young people's talents and experiences to not only empower them in their adult lives but also to open them up to the wide range of careers in Theatre, Radio and on Screen.

2. Excentric Muzik

This beginning DJ course includes topics such as Music selection; Health and safety; Setting up equipment; Beats, bars, rhythms & phrasing; Beat matching and mixing; EFX Tricks and Scratching; Eqs and levels; Structuring a mix; and Final mix recording.

3. The GRIT Experience (Gerry Rogan Initiative Trust)

A week-long residential programme for young people where they participate in a range of activities including fun outdoor games and challenges as well as workshop based personal development programmes.

Project Partners

Ballynafeigh Community Development Association (South Belfast)
Churchtown Community Association (Castlederg)
Falls Women's Centre (West Belfast)
Footprints Women's Centre (Lisburn)
Foyle Women's Information Network (Derry/Londonderry)
Kilcooley Women's Centre (North Down)
Roe Valley Education Forum (Limavady)
Short Strand Community Forum (East Belfast)
The Women's Centre (Derry/Londonderry)

Project highlights

The project supported hard-to-engage young women in 9 disadvantaged areas throughout Northern Ireland in the areas of:

Personal development
Confidence building
Guiding and mentoring
Communication skills development

Soundtrack to Success

Just for Girls DJ Course used the medium of modern dance music to seek to re-engage participants with learning whilst at the same time help them build confidence in facing a totally different learning experience.

Whilst the outward focus of the program was on participants learning to master the DJ decks and produce their own individual dance music tracks the underpinning aim was to enable these young women to see that there is a wider world of opportunity for them in areas that they might not previously contemplated.

They were introduced to aspects if the music industry such as event management, PR promotion, artist management, as well as being able to take disparate sounds and make something totally new from them.

This 'mixing of music' to some extent became a metaphor for how the program helped participants identify how their particular skills and talents could come together in a new and positive manner and let them see how, with motivation and the right support, they could achieve more than they had thought when they first started the program. " Lesley Reilly (TWN )

The project was one of a number of innovative programs delivered through Training for Women Network's Gateway to Progression Project, funded under the Department for Employment and Learning's Collaboration and Innovation Fund (CIF).

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