The French NGO, TECHNAP (Appropriate Technologies), entrusted GRET with the technical coordination of the PARTEC (Technical Partnership) programme. PARTEC is based on the organisation of three working seminars on predetermined technical subjects such as professional structuring, entrepreneurship, technological innovation and participatory methods applied to artisans and small entrepreneurs, etc.

For more than seven years, the European Union has financed the Nigetech project (Nigetech I and II), the goal of which was to build and implement a quality training offer for micro and small craft enterprises in Niger. The goal of the feasibility study for a new on-going vocational training and apprenticeship (OVTA) support programme was to elaborate the third and final phase of this project. Thus, it was to identify the modalities for the emergence of a national OVTA scheme within which the various Nigerian stakeholders concerned (the Government, the Office National de la Formation Professionnelle [national vocational training office], professional artisans’ organisations, training providers, craftsmen, and apprentices) would have the skills and will to take on their OVTA responsibilities. It is therefore a matter of elaborating an institution-building proposal while continuing the training activities.

This CD-ROM manual seeks to provide practitioners with the methods and tools needed to promote women’s enterprises. It presents the experiences of numerous projects around the world in this field and identifies the pertinent methods and tools these projects have elaborated. The manual contains two sections: guidelines and a practical toolkit.