About the She Drives project

1. How did the idea to create a project to train women drivers come about? What are the stages of its implementation? Are there similar projects in other countries?

Kateryna: It is worth noting that in the field of drivers, only 1% are women. This percentage needs to be changed. According to the Ministry's research, today in the field of bus transportation (in particular, in municipal transport), the shortage of drivers reaches 30% or approximately 6 thousand people.

The project itself was born due to the need of the industry, the desire of the Ministry to find a solution, as well as based on our experience in the field of professional development, development of professional standards, organization of training, etc. We can add here our desire to support women in this field.

2. Where did you start the project?

Kateryna: The initiative to implement this project was taken by the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development. Then a concept was born, which was supported by UN Women in Ukraine with financial support from Sweden.

3. What is the amount of funding for the She Drives project?

Kateryna: I can tell you how much it costs today to train a female driver for passenger transport. Prices vary in the regions (we know this, because we cooperate directly with driving schools), but on average the price for full training, from theory to driving practice, is a little more than $1,000 per person.

4. How many women are currently studying in the project, how is the training going?

Oleksandra: In total, the project planned to train 100 women. In total, women submitted 403 questionnaires to participate in the project.

During the first round, 86 women were recruited, some of whom were eliminated by the end of the selection process due to failure to meet the participation conditions. During the second round, there were already many more applications, although there were only 30 places available.

Kateryna: We have a specific KPI: 100 women in the project, of which at least 80 must be employed. We create jobs, and this is a feature of this project.

5. How do you look for employers?

Anna: Before the project started, we already had a request from employers for female drivers. This is one of the prerequisites for creating the project.

Currently, employers who have a request for female bus drivers can fill out a questionnaire in the profile header and thus express their desire to become She Drives partners.

6. Are these requests from utility companies?

Kateryna: Yes. Before we applied for the project, we already had letters of support from utility companies.

We also cooperate with private enterprises - "Green Elephant 7", as well as FlixBus.

That is, we are not limited only to municipal transport and are open to partnerships with businesses within the framework of the project.

7. What, in your opinion, is the difference in work between municipal enterprises and private ones?

Kateryna: Everyone has their own style of work. In my opinion, in municipal enterprises there are still stereotypes about female drivers, while in private business there are much fewer of them.

Oleksandra: Regarding employment, I would like to add that we have women whose family business is bus transportation, and women would like to be more involved in this area. There is also a participant whose husband bought a bus and she intends to get a category and engage in passenger transportation.

In addition, the women's councils have experience in logistics and thus want to improve the level of work. That is, the enterprise offered the woman participation in the project and further transfer within the enterprise to the position of driver.

8. What stereotypes have you and/or the project participants encountered?

Kateryna: Cooperation with UN Women in Ukraine, as well as the She Drives project itself, is aimed, among other things, at studying the barriers that are a deterrent to women's development in this area. The Foundation is already completing analytics in pilot regions, including at municipal enterprises, to identify these barriers. That is, in parallel, we are analyzing what prevents women from organically developing in the transportation sector.

Anna: We provide recommendations for women on what to do in situations of ridicule/disrespect/prejudicial attitude/physical contact. We also conduct trainings not only with the question of "what to do", but also to prevent such cases.

The project's task is not only to train women drivers, but also to continue the global fight against stereotypes, provide support to women and once again prove the idea that there are no frameworks and standards for women, especially for women drivers.

The project "Expanding the professional potential of women in the field of transportation" is being implemented by the NGO Foundation for Institutional Development on the initiative of the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine, in partnership with UN Women and under the financial support from the governments of France, Poland and Sweden.