Coinciding with the Women’s Day, Women Can Build starts the practical course aimed at women to discover the construction sector, organized by the Employment Agency of the Madrid City Council and Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, in its center at Vicálvaro.
On March 6th, ten women with no previous experience in construction and a desire to reinvent themselves in a professional way, started the course «We Build too», at Vicálvaro training centre of Fundación Laboral de la Construcción of Madrid. This is a 20-hour practical training organised by Fundación and the Madrid City Council’s Employment Agency as part of awareness and learning actions of the European initiative, Women Can Build.
These future professionals of the sector were selected last February, by the Employment Agency, from more than 65 women interested in learning about different trades: masonry, painting, tiling, electricity and laminated plaster; with the aid of Juan Manuel Guillén, trainer at Fundación Laboral. In addition, the project team will give an employment orientation sessions to improve the curricular and to guide the employability of the participants towards a sector.
Until March 16th, the students will build brick walls, self-supporting laminated plaster partitions, carry out tiling work, basic low-voltage installations on walls and coating work, among others, to learn about the opportunities offered by this sector and decide their working lives.
Women’s Day
Women Can Build joins Women’s Day with this course for unemployed with no previous knowledge of construction. The aim is to encourage women to be part of a sector with a future and employment possibilities, and to empower them to discover their constructive skills.
Through this initiative of March 8th, the project has also presented the video “We build, in Las Palmas”, which shows the testimonies of trainees and trainers of this center of Fundación Laboral. This is an example of the equal commitment of the entity, which this year joined the Women’s Day with the campaign #ConstruyoIgualdad.
The Institutional visit
This Monday, the students received a visit from the Economy delegate of the Madrid City Council, Miguel Ángel Redondo, and the manager of the Employment Agency, Belén García. These representatives were accompanied by Francisco Castrillo, manager of Fundación Laboral de la Construcción de Madrid, and José Antonio Viejo, director of Training and Employment of Fundación Laboral de la Construcción, who were able to see some works carried out by the participants.
The Economy delegate highlighted that “the construction sector has great potential for women” and encouraged them to contact the Employment Agency of Madrid City Council, “which will be offered all the necessary information to join a great sector”.
The course began with an introduction to the sector and basic knowledge of Occupational Risk Prevention (knowledge necessary to work on the site). This course has been or will be held in the partnership countries, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium and Portugal, with the aim of teaching basic construction knowledge to 60 women.
Note: The practical training “We build too. Practical initiation to construction” was cancelled because of the coronavirus crisis. Following the recommendations of the Authorities, Fundación Laboral de la Construcción closed its 48 Training Centres of Spain.