Empowering Mums 3 marked a new direction for the project with a renewed focus on empowering mothers to improve their employment situation, and the incorporation of support group work. This revamp was made possible by increased funding, enabling YWCA to present an enhanced 10-week model of group work and skills-building workshops. Its aim was now to first meet mothers where they are at in terms of knowledge and skills, transfer these to the employability context, provide support to overcome barriers to employment, and nurture their sense of personal agency through a support group setting. Key takeaways were also built into the development framework so mothers were more activated and could track their progress. The usual provision of halal meals, transport and childminding through Empowering Kids allowed mums to attend with peace of mind and focus on improving themselves.

Project stakeholders expanded to over 30 partners and supporters from community agencies, content providers, sponsors and others who joined YWCA in this meaningful cause. This led to a greater breadth of mothers being referred, with teenage mums participating for the first time, and the return of Employment Partners for the project. A special Meet-and-Greet was organised after the graduation ceremony so mums could mingle with these potential employers. Eventually an internal job database was set up after more employers came forward wanting to share their hiring opportunities with graduate mums.

Eventually, 23 mothers graduated from the enhanced project and within six months, 21 (or 91.3%) of them had either maintained or found employment and/or upskilled themselves. For the latter, a total of 12 (or 52.2%) mums had taken the initiative to undergo some form of skills upgrading. Graduates also reported average scores of at least 85% in each domain when asked to evaluate whether the Empowering Mums journey made them feel stronger, more confident, more in control, able to carry out decisions and empowered.

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