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Driving Women's Empowerment: Inclusive Lifelong Learning and Skills Development Through the Skills for Work Programme in a Small Island Developing State
Abstract
Spearheaded by the Higher Education Commission, Mauritius in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning, the Skills for Work Programme provided over 4,000 participants access to 10,000+ online courses on platforms such as Coursera, Udemy, and Grow with Google for skill development. Despite the proliferation of short, online courses in the last decade (Rosendale and Wilkie, 2021), there has been little empirical investigation into their impact on participants, with the literature instead focusing on learner motivation, retention, completion, and instructional design (Zhu, 2018). Moreover, there is a paucity of research that employs a gendered perspective. This study investigates how the Skills for Work Programme, Mauritius contributed to women’s empowerment, through a Three-dimensional Empowerment Framework (Carr, 2015). Using a census approach, online surveys were sent to 3909 learners that had completed the Skills for Work Program, and 380 responses were received. Descriptive statistics were generated, and t-tests were employed to assess statistically significant differences between men’s and women’s scores, while thematic analysis was conducted on qualitative responses. Additionally, Focus Group Discussions with 16 participants provided nuanced contextual information about the lived experiences of participants, particularly from the Special Education Cohort which was composed primarily of women. We found that the Programme had a significant impact on women’s empowerment across various dimensions. For example, women reported a greater increase in awareness related to skills development (mean = 3.95 vs. 3.7, t(340)=2.76, p=.006), in motivation and career aspirations (mean = 4.2 vs. 3.84, t(351)=3.55, p<.001), and in confidence (mean = 4.02 vs 3.76, t(352) = 2.56, p = 0.011.) Furthermore, 52% of women reported gaining employment postprogram, compared to 41% of men, and 36% of women reported receiving a raise or promotion versus 23% of men. The impact extended beyond professional advancement and personal development, motivating them to drive community transformation. The flexibility of the courses and targeted cohort models emerged as key design features that facilitated empowerment. The findings highlight the importance of gender-sensitive strategies to scale lifelong learning and skills development.
PCF11 Sub-Theme: Gender, Technology and Innovation in Open Education
Paper ID: 6305
Subject
Country
Mauritius
Region
Africa
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Adobe PDF, 259.18 KB
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Date
2025-09
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ORCID
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Publisher
Commonwealth of Learning (COL)