To date, Longford Women’s Link (LWL), a highly-considered women’s resource centre based in Co Longford, has delivered a number of effective economic programmes within the County. LWL’s three core programmes have focussed on the areas of employment, particularly through the ‘Gateway’ programme (return to employment); the Community Employment (‘CE’) scheme; and self-employment initiatives for women.
LWL has been a FÁS training centre since 2003. ‘Gateway ‘is an eight week FÁS-funded programme for women who wish to return to work, and is specifically targeted at the unemployed who are not in receipt of social welfare.
‘Gateway’ provides for a number of different training modules, combined with facilitated work experience. LWL has developed a woman-centred programme, based around modules that include job seeking skills, IT skills, customer relations, personal presentation, interview skills and rights in the workplace. By allowing women to develop their skills and confidence in a safe and open setting, their opportunities for accessing employment and enhancing their economic independence are greatly increased.
Over 5 years, 162 women have partaken in LWL’s Gateway courses. 53% have secured some form of employment as a direct result of the course.
