An EU-funded project run by 

the Sofia Foundation in Brussels

(2014 – 2016)

Accelerate! is the backbone of the Sofia Foundation's action to support seasoned women professionals as they access boards and the media. This top-ranked EU project – funded under the European Commission’s PROGRESS programme – was launched at the Deauville Women’s Forum in October 2014. We provide a pan-European platform for organisations and networks engaging qualified women in economic governance, as panellists in policy debates, or experts in news on-air, online, and in the print media.

The Sofia Foundation's project partners are non-profit organisations from seven EU member states: Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, and the UK. Associate partners come from the Netherlands and Romania. Each of us has specific expertise: needs analyses for boards, brokerage of board profiles, mentoring and leadership development, PR and media campaigning, and social media. We combine our strengths to advance balanced leadership and decision-making in society at large.

To achieve our objectives, we operate with two distinct working groups: “Women on Boards”  and “Women in the Media”.

Accelerate! “Women on Boards” working group:

• The Sofia Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
• Professional Women International (PWI), Brussels, Belgium
• Professional Women Association (PWA), Milan, Italy
• PWN Warsaw, Poland
• PWN Lisbon, Portugal
  

Associate Partner: PWN Romania

Accelerate! “Women in the Media” working group:

• The Sofia Foundation, Brussels, Belgium
• Voxfemina, Paris, France
• META’s List, Kočevje, Slovenia
• Jupiter Consulting, London, United Kingdom

Observer: Managers' Association of Slovenia, Ljubljana, Slovenia