Life skills including advice for parenting and employment will be part of a new programme for women.

Single mothers ill-equipped to enter the job market are among those expected to benefit from a series of workshops and support to help boost their employability.

The Women’s Resource Centre will co-ordinate the scheme and it will be linked to a transitional housing initiative developed with charity Habitat for Humanity of Bermuda.

Elaine Butterfield, the executive director of WRC, said the charity was in a “state of rejuvenation” and was working with other agencies on the island to help vulnerable women.

She said: “We are now working on an education and skills training programme, to foster economic self-sufficiency in the lives of disadvantaged women and their families.”

The programme, called Transformational Support Services, was designed to be a one-stop shop offering support in areas like housing, finance, employment and health. It is scheduled to start next January.

Ms Butterfield explained: “This service will be available to women who meet specific criteria such as single parents, lack of basic employability skills, under educated, on financial assistance or in debt, women wanting to upgrade their skills, women having unaddressed trauma issues and more.”

She said the programme will be a mandatory part of a housing project spearheaded by Habitat for Humanity, the WRC and other agencies.

Ms Butterfield said: “In April of this year Habitat for Humanity and the Women’s Resource Centre held a think-tank based on concern for the request by many women and their families looking for housing.

“The think-tank revealed that several agencies and services in Bermuda were seeing the same need and that it was tremendous.

“A steering committee was formed and ten agencies have continued to meet and are working on a business plan towards the realisation of a facility for women and their families that will be part of a transformational process to empower them to lead more successful and sustainable lives when they graduate from the programme.”

Ms Butterfield said those accepted for the transitional housing would stay for up to a year.

She added: “What we don’t want to happen is we give someone a place to stay, they enter and they leave in the same state that they’re in.

“We want to provide a support system that is transformational enough that they leave in a better state than when they enter.”

Help will be based on specific needs and training will include self-paced academic tutorials as well experience in the workplace.

It is hoped the project can be funded through donations and sponsorship.

Ms Butterfield added: “We believe that it’s a project that many will see worthy to support.”

She said: “This is not a band aid, it’s transformation that’s our objective.”

Sheelagh Cooper, the Habitat for Humanity of Bermuda chairwoman, said: “It’s a great partnership because Habitat brings to the table the capacity to create or renovate a purpose-driven facility that will allow for the wonderful programmes offered by the WRC to take place.

“It has been a dream of mine for years while I was running the Coalition for the Protection of Children to create a safe haven for families struggling with homelessness and together with the support of so many other organisations and, of course, the generosity of the donor community this can become a reality.”