A small project linked to the Cisco® Networking Academy® is making a big difference to the fortunes of women in Central and Eastern Europe.

Although still in its first year, the F-email project has made a significant difference to 40 women in Hungary, Serbia and Turkey by preparing them for a career in IT-on a budget of USD$52,000 from Cisco.

The F-email project came about when three Academy area managers-Gabriella Béni from Hungary, Ana Majcenic from Serbia and Deniz Sungurlu from Turkey-began to explore the possibilities of increasing the number of women starting careers in the IT industry.

They selected three objectives: identify ways of attracting women to join the IT industry; set up an international community of female IT students; and enhance the self-organization of women's networks in the different countries.

Soon the project had the support of 10 organizations, including three particularly respected Networking Academies: Pécs regional training center in Hungary, the University of Belgrade in Serbia and Istanbul Technical University in Turkey.

In addition, in Turkey the Youth for Habitat non-government organization committed to provide support for recruiting female participants and a Hungarian consultancy agency volunteered to develop a train-the-trainers course for teaching soft skills.

Finally, the Serbian office of Cisco offered interview techniques and human resources experience to help find the right people for the program, which Béni, Majcenic and Sungurlu had realized would be essential for the project. Cisco pledged to give F-email initial funding of $52,000.

F-email's official launch took place on 8 March 2007, on International Women's Day, and although all three countries shared the same soft skills training and IT course-the Cisco CCNA® network associate certification-each country adapted F-email to its own needs.

Thus, whereas in Serbia the program is potentially open to all women, Hungary focuses on the unemployed and in Turkey the program is aimed at university students or graduates.

During April 2007, the recruitment process began through local Cisco Web pages in Serbia, a university site in Turkey, and via an agreement with a Trans-Danubian Regional Labor Center dedicated to the recruitment and support of unemployed women in Hungary.

The Labor Center offered another $40,000 to provide scholarships and cover travel costs for the students, as well as helping to select suitable candidates from amongst the 27,100-plus registered unemployed women in the region.

Interest in the course was high, with more than 100 applications in the first 10 days in Serbia alone.

The subsequent selection of candidates varied from country to country, as the target group differed in each case, although in all three countries a high percentage of women chosen were unemployed despite the fact that only Hungary specifically targeted this group.

The CCNA training started in May 2007, with up to around 15 candidates enrolling in each country.

Hungarian trainers developed and delivered a train-the-trainers course for Turkish and Serbian soft-skills instructors in Istanbul and in Belgrade. Students began learning the soft skills in August, supported by local trainers.

The soft skills element of the course focuses on self-evaluation, identification of personal strengths and self-development areas; assertiveness and personal presentation; CV writing; job-seeking strategies; and communication skills.

Mentoring of students by Cisco staff and other IT professionals is also a vital part of the professional development of the F-email participants.

By the end of the training, participants have a personal self-management plan, detailing what steps they need to take to find a job and best use their CCNA qualification, and identifying the main opportunities in the local labor market.

The final aspect of the F-email project is community building, which aims to encourage a self-supporting group of female IT graduates, job-seekers and professionals.

A Women's Website is a critical component of F-email's community program, allowing the exchange of ideas and advice between students.

At a local level, graduates and organizers of the program remain in contact through social events such as monthly dinners, gatherings and even picnics.

Subject to additional funding, the Networking Academy team is keen to extend what in essence has been a pilot program, enlarging participation to at least 40 or 50 participants per country and including more countries in the region, such as Croatia, Albania and Kosovo.

"I believe that this is like a seed which we need to nurture so it can grow and blossom internationally," says Sungurlu.