Association 50a50 is one of the partners of the consortium that leads the Erasmus+ project “Off the Beaten Track”, aimed at training women in the tourism and cultural industries to improve their job opportunities.

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing socio-economic and gender disparities in the labour market, making it more difficult to achieve the economic and social growth targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Women have been the most affected by this crisis, and in particular, the tourism and culture sectors have suffered greatly.

Out of this reflection comes “Off the Beaten Track” (OTBT), a project co-founded by the European Union’s Erasmus+ program, which aims to empower and improve the employability of women who are unemployed or at risk of losing their jobs as a result of the recent pandemic, by exploring the link between tourism, creativity and sustainable development (UNWTO Action Plan, 2019). Moreover, the purpose of the project is to build a community of women and a hub of resources, information, tools, and contacts by encouraging networking, inspiration, and empathy among women of different backgrounds, ages, geographies, and cultures.

This initiative is led by Consorzio Materahub, and its partners are Destination Makers, an Italian consulting company committed to the valorisation and marketing of destinations through cooperation to achieve a paradigm shift, as well as the organization Visit Košice, which is dedicated to offering all the resources and information necessary to visit the city of Košice, in Slovakia. Also collaborating as a partner is the Barcelona-based company Inmedia Solution, which specializes in strategic communication, business development, and tourism auditing, and which is founded and managed by 50a50 partner Livia Paretti. Another partner is the Estonian NGO Loov Eesti, which is dedicated to promoting creativity and entrepreneurship.

50a50 is also a partner of this European project, where we bring the gender perspective and specialization in women empowerment training.

To enhance and improve the employability of women who are at risk of becoming unemployed or who have already lost their jobs due to the pandemic, the OTBT project aims to achieve three main objectives.

Firstly, it aims to harness the full potential of culture, creativity, and sustainable tourism to promote the empowerment of these women by developing an apprenticeship model of their own. Secondly, it aspires to create links between professionals from the world of arts, culture, tourism, and sustainable development, to create long-term creative links and partnerships as drivers for gender equality and social cohesion. Finally, OTBT aims to foster active participation and empowerment of women by creating a community that fosters a supportive environment where they can benefit from informal and peer learning.

From 50a50, we are very committed to this project and its objectives, to support those women who have found themselves unemployed or at risk of being unemployed due to the pandemic, intending to achieve the parity in employment and representation that we deserve.