The Project
The Girls’ Empowerment In Digital Skills (GEMS) project is designed to increase female participation in the ICT sector. The project addresses the gender gap in digital fields through two primary approaches. It provides higher education personnel with tools, training, and gender-inclusive teaching guidelines to help them create more engaging and bias-free ICT learning environments. Finally, the project reaches out to secondary school girls (ages 14–19) through free extracurricular programs featuring hands-on STEM projects and a mentorship program that connects them with female ICT role models.
WP1 - Project Management
This WP is dedicated to the effective coordination, financial transparency, and quality assurance of the project.
Key activities include:
• Ongoing monitoring and reporting
• Quality Assurance
• Financial supervision
• Coordination and internal communication
• Risk management
Key activities include:
• Ongoing monitoring and reporting
• Quality Assurance
• Financial supervision
• Coordination and internal communication
• Risk management
WP2 - Lessons Learnt and Best Practices to boost gender balance in pursuing ICT careers
This WP investigates the specific barriers and motivational factors that influence the decisions of girls and young women regarding ICT-related studies and professions, through both desk research and extensive field research across the partner countries. By interviewing educational stakeholders such as university professors, high school teachers, youth workers, and policymakers, the project partners aim to identify successful best practices from around Europe. These efforts culminate in the production of a Scientific Paper on motivations towards ICT education and a comprehensive Compendium of Lessons Learnt and Best Practices.
WP3 - Teaching framework for an inclusive digital education
This WP focuses on empowering higher education academic staff with the methodologies and tools necessary to eliminate gender bias in ICT education. The primary goal of this phase is to create a Teaching Framework Methodology that serves as the research-driven foundation for the EquiTeach Guidelines in ICT. A critical component of WP3 is the implementation of a hybrid training program for academic staff, where participants pilot the EquiTeach strategies and work to improve existing ICT curricula.
WP4 - GEMS educational programme and mentorship
The focus of this WP is on developing three interventions: the GEMS Booklet, which raises awareness about gender biases and career advantages; the TechGems program, featuring 24 video tutorials for quick, hands-on tech projects and STEM experiments; and the Mentorship Programme that connects high school girls with young women university students in ICT to build confidence and provide ongoing inspiration.
WP5 - Dissemination: Promotion and external communication
The WP focuses on maximizing the visibility, impact, and long-term sustainability of the GEMS project through strategic outreach. The GEMS WebApp is a digital hub that hosts all project outputs. The work package also involves organizing roundtable discussions with policymakers and educational stakeholders to foster institutional commitment to gender equality in the tech sector.