Women's Rural Integrated Training to Employment (WRITE) Project

The WRITE project is designed with the training and employment needs of women specifically in mind. The project is centred in the Ballingarry area of South Tipperary and will be based at a new IT training centre in the the enterprise centre outside the village. BNS made a successful application to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's 'Equality for Women Measure' (EWM) for funding to operate the project. Then project is being operated in conjunction with a local community group, Slieveardagh CITE from the Ballingarry area. WRITE has two basic strands to its strategy:
To provide training in IT and related vocational skills to a 100 - 120 self-selected women in the greater Ballingarry region in their own locality. To encourage and support a smaller group of those women who have experienced training to establish a ICT based enterprise within the community.	IT offers many rural women a chance to work in their own communities
As well covering the bulk of the the cost of training in ICT and other job-specific skills WRITE will seek to provide training in areas that will assist the personal development of the individual woman, their skills in working together and other non-vocational skills. Through WRITE, BNS will seek to provide the necessary social supports to allow full participation by all women regardless of their economic situation. This may include childcare, care of elderly dependents and transport needs. The lessons of WRITE will inform not just BNS policy with regard to the training and employment of women, but through its dissemination through the EWM Network to national policy and women throughout the state.