Participants Women, Youth

Services to social impact

The COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns disproportionately affected the service and hospitality industry and the large numbers of young women that worked in the sector.

To support them in making career changes, the G(irls)20’s Services to Social Impact Project provided online workshops and coaching to help young women in the service industry develop transferable social-emotional skills in leadership and confidence, communications, business literacy, job interviewing and networking.

Group of young woman clapping during an event.

Initially, the project aimed to support young women to transition out of the service industry and into social entrepreneurship. However, given the volatile state of the economy and goals of its participants, the project realized this was too ambitious. Instead, it pivoted to the development of transferable social-emotional skills.

Despite the challenges this pivot created, after participating in the project, the women felt more knowledgeable about professional communication, negotiation strategies, steps needed for career transitions and the different career paths that were open to them.

The project did highlight the importance of flexibility in the face of changing circumstances in the external environment in order to meet and support participants where they are.