This summer young girls from Northern Ireland will get the chance to develop essential life skills that will set them up for success and to help ensure females play an increased role in all levels of society.

Little Women NI is a new five week programme beginning on 16 July for young girls in Northern Ireland aged seven to nine years-old.

Aiming to develop essential life skills in communication, confidence, creativity, teamwork and leadership, the initiative will see 20 girls take part in bespoke sessions delivered by industry experts who are the best in their field.

Founded and Directed by Laura Dowie, Senior Marketing Officer at Belfast Met and former Events and Marketing Manager at Women in Business, Little Women NI aims to improve and develop a variety of skills in a unique and fun environment. The skills learned will help them form positive relationships with both themselves and their peers, as well as encourage dreams and inspire success.

Laura Dowie said: “Research has shown that during childhood, girls display confidence levels that are equal to boys of the same age. However, during teenage years confidence levels and self-belief decrease. This affects how girls interact and engage not only with their peers, but with the world around them.

“Over the course of five weeks, Little Women NI will help young girls develop and enhance skills that they can carry through into their teenage years, while having fun and learning about themselves at the same time. Gender equality in the workplace and women in STEM are key issues for both government and businesses and in order to address the imbalance, action needs to be taken from an early age to help ensure that females play an increased role at all levels of society.”

The programme will run every Saturday morning from 16 July to 13 August in Crescent Arts Centre.  Each session will be delivered in a fun environment by a professional in their field. Facilitators include Lisa Duffy, Director of Bright Young Things, Heather Carr, Director of Ten Minutes More, Alasdair McKee, Director of Offload Rugby, Tara Mullan and Jeanette Ranking, Directors of Doodlebugs Creative Workshops and Little Women NI Founder, Laura Dowie.

For more details on the programme and how to register you can visit www.facebook.com/littlewomenni