Employability and Capacitation are transversal areas to the entire population of Vila Nova de Gaia. Access to jobs and education can mitigate situations of vulnerability and impact on the social and economic development of citizens. ESCOLA OFICINA is a triple bottom line solution, since it provides social, environmental, and economic responses while advocating equal opportunities, by training unemployed people in the areas of sewing and graphic arts.
Local
Portugal
Vila Nova de Gaia
Mainly urban
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2022-12-31
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Gaiurb - Urbanismo e Habitação, E.M. Type of organisation: Other public institution First name of representative: Diana Last name of representative: Mota Gender: Female Nationality: Portugal Function: Coordinator Social Development Unit Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Largo de Aljubarrota, n.º 13 Town: Vila Nova de Gaia Postal code: 4400-012 Country: Portugal Direct Tel:+351 926 434 661 E-mail:dianamota@gaiurb.pt Website:https://www.gaiurb.pt/
Employability and Capacitation are transversal areas to the entire population of Vila Nova de Gaia. The access to a job and to education can mitigate situations of vulnerability in families and impact on the social and economic development of citizens, and the municipality. ESCOLA OFICINA is a solution implemented by the municipal company Gaiurb, as a pilot project started in 2015 in a social housing. The project consists in the capacitation of unemployed people in the areas of sewing and graphic arts and its integration in the production of different items using waste as raw-material for production of leather accessories, home decor accessories, notebooks and tablet cases. The ESCOLA OFICINA success led to its expansion throughout the whole municipality, in order to create bridges to employment, giving unemployed people access to education courses in an attempt to mitigate the difficulties of access the job market. Additionally, to the social component, ESCOLA OFICINA also contributes to mitigate a problem of environmental nature: the high amount of textile and leather deposited in landfills. By collecting this kind of waste from industries and companies and transforming it into added-value products, ESCOLA OFICINA provides a new life to wasted materials and increases its life cycle. The final products made by the trained beneficiaries are sold to the public and companies whose economic return accrued to the beneficiaries who produced the items and a portion went towards maintaining the sustainability of the project. Furthermore, through this articulation with companies, it is possible to match unemployed beneficiaries' profiles with the job market needs, in a perspective of continuous accompaniment for both parties – population and job market. ESCOLA OFICINA is therefore a triple bottom line solution, since it provides social, environmental, and economic answers.
Employability
Sustainability
Social innovation
People
Environment
1. Social sustainability: Vila Nova de Gaia is a wide territory with rural and urban areas and a population with specific characteristics, so only a holistic and systemic approach could reduce inequalities and social isolation. Because of that, our intervention is focused on the integration of the population in the labour market. In one hand, the project aims to increase levels of education or the acquisition of new competences to strengthen individual trust and capacitation; on the other hand, intends to meet recruitment needs of the labour market, as a way to reduce territorial inequality, discrimination, the barriers to social cohesion and promote economic growth and social participation. This intervention was also based on the establishment of partnerships with other social entities in order to better meet the needs of beneficiaries and therefore a broaden approach. Our numbers, +5000 people accompanied to employment and training are proof of the project sustainability.
2. Environmental sustainability: the project contributed to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and to save water and natural resources by implementing a circular economy approach. The capacitation of our beneficiaries and their integration in the production of upcycled articles, contributed to avoid the emission of 17ton CO2eq, to save 250,000L of water and avoid 1,28 ton of waste going to landfills. At the same time, promotes awareness and dissemination of environmental concerns.
3. Economic Sustainability: There are clear gains for all the project's actors. On one hand, with the collection of waste, there is a saving for the companies and, on the other hand, with the commercialization of the articles we ensure the economic sustainability of the project, allowing a free support to all beneficiaries. At the same time, we contribute to the economic profitability of the families, promoting their development and social strengthening, through their integration in the labour market.
ESCOLA OFICINA enables the acquisition of knowledge, professional (re)qualification and certification in the areas of sewing, cartonboard and graphic arts and offers the opportunity for beneficiaries to put into practice the knowledge acquired and start projects in a real work context, which translate into the transformation of industrial waste into final products with added value. This objective highlights the strong environmental impact of the project through the circular economy and the main concern to give opportunities to the apprentices.
Aesthetically, the products produced in ESCOLA OFICINA are timeless and carefully designed to ensure that they are appealing to the public and are also capable to educate customers on the theme that it is possible make a good product out of "trash" and still looks perfect. At the same time, we believe that apprentices, when they participate in the process of creating beautifull and usefull products and know the origin of their materials, create an emotional relationship with the final products. This relationship with the creation process and outcome promotes a very powerful sense of belonging and achievement.
The main focus of ESCOLA OFICINA was to minimize the difficulties of people in risk of social exclusion accessing the job market, namely people living in social housings, who are characterised by low scholarship, absence of working habits and the dependence on public subsidies, by promoting their inclusion and social protection through academic education and labour market integration solutions. Affordability and accessibility are main objectives, ensuring that the processes are easily implemented by the beneficiaries. Scalability its also a key objective since it is well known that unemployment and vulnerability are pressing and widespread concerns. By keeping a 'low-technology' methodology based on manual arts, the project secures its total accessibility.
Minority groups, such as people with disabilities, migrants, ethnic minorities, also benefited from our responses, with the aim of helping them become active and independent social participants. In 2022, 33% of the people assisted by ESCOLA OFICINA corresponded to minority groups. In order to make ESCOLA OFICINA services accessible to the entire population, including those in more distant locations or with physical disabilities, an adapted bus was acquired in order to transport these people to training courses or job interviews. Also, by applying the colorADD methodology the projects allows people with colour blindness to participate.
In a different perspective, creating and spreading local circular economy with local enterprises promotes awareness and mobilisation, allowing the beneficiaries to perceive the common linear modes of production and consumption and contributes to address waste prevention among local communities.
At the same time, the relations promoted by the sharing of a common space and learnings between all the beneficiaries encourages community engagement, in order to create a sustainable community where every stakeholder is involved and treated fairly and equally.
ESCOLA OFICINA gives support in terms of employability, education, professional qualification in several areas and capacitation in sewing and graphic arts. Initially the project was created to give support to unemployed people living in social housings, in risk of exclusion, however our responses were extended to the entire population given the success of the project. In addition to support in terms of education, our beneficiaries can be guided to any sort of short- or long-term courses and can even be guided to increase their level of education, since, low scholarship is often a barrier to accessing the labor market. ESCOLA OFICINA also gives support for candidates who are looking for jobs, namely by giving free workshops on subjects like CV preparation or preparation of job interviews. Moreover, given the close relationship we have with the commercial sector, we are aware of their human resources needs, and we match the beneficiaries according to their profile, to these open job positions. This approach has resulted in more than 5.500 people accompanied, since it stands out from the government responses because it is more accessible, less bureaucratic, of prompt response, individualised and targeted at the population taking into consideration the life project of each one. In the last years, 687 referrals for employment and 1090 for training have been made. In total, 19,712 diligences were performed, including home visits, interviews, presentation of job offers, vocational guidance sessions and support in preparing CVs. ESCOLA OFICINA also has had support to homeless people, being possible to integrate 6 of them into the job market and 22 in capacitation/training programs. The textile, leather, and graphic arts industries that collaborate with the ESCOLA OFICINA benefit from the project in two ways, by the collection of their waste and by the work of recruiting and selecting candidates completely free of charge.
Since we believe that there is not economic growth without social development, ESCOLA OFICINA is committed to the pillar of social sustainability, and sees itself as a project that facilitates change, seeking to find new solutions for the development of the city itself and for existing problems, through social innovation, being aligned with the Global Goals for Sustainable Development. Thus, stakeholders have a crucial role, mainly at the local and regional levels. In 2015, 2 important local stakeholders for the pilot success were an Artistic School (the project partner responsible for the capacitation and training of people) and a Waste Management Company which has donated their waste and was ESCOLA OFICINA first costumer of merchandising products made with their own waste. Since then, around 400 companies have had joined the project and contributed with waste, such as textiles, in order to be transformed by ESCOLA OFICINA beneficiaries into new upcycled products. Furthermore, these companies/industries do integrate the ESCOLA OFICINA beneficiaries into their teams. One stakeholder that can be highlighted is the City Hall of Vila Nova de Gaia that has supported ESCOLA OFICINA through the different institutions of the city's social network.
ESCOLA OFICINA was intended to be a social innovation project focused on a triple bottom line approach, these means involving answers in the social and environmental scopes with economic sustainability. During the ideation/creation process, two important synergies were placed into action in order to achieve the main project goals: the capacitation of unemployed people and its professional integration and to somehow mitigate the problem of the high quantity of textile waste that ends up in landfills, thus ending its life cycle. The textile sector is in the top 5 waste sectors with the greatest environmental impact, namely due to water consumption associated with textile treatment and dyeing and in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, a synergy with a professional and artistic school and a waste management company were started. Furthermore, the articulation with other entities of the social network which could provide other responses in topics like mental health, financial literacy, preparation of CV and job interviews, enriching the project responses.
The project was implemented in 2015 in a social housing development in Vila Nova de Gaia, called Balteiro. Very problematic, with social dynamics very focused on the stigmatization and vulnerability of its population. The project was consolidated and in 6 months scaled up to all social housing developments in the municipality. After that: it has already accompanied more than 5,500 people in the scope of training/skilling and employment, highlighting the application of an accessible, individualised and targeted intervention to the population, taking into consideration the life project of each citizen.
In social terms, the project referred 687 beneficiaries to employment, of wich 170 were integrated into employment.
In environmental terms, in 2022, the project transformed into products around 340 kg of waste destined for disposal. This transformation is reflected in a reduction of 2.6 tonnes of CO2eq emissions and a saving of more than 350,000 litres of water. To date, we have mobilised more than 400 companies, building bridges between social responsibility, social monitoring and environmental and economic sustainability. The outcome with the greatest impact is the empowerment of the unemployed population of the Municipality and the establishment of connections with the labour market through capacity building and training of the population. But we can also highlight the reinforcement of circular economy principles, the establishment of cooperative relationships with companies and other partners and the awareness raising to the importance of promoting equality and social equity and environmental awareness.
ESCOLA OFICINA is an innovative response to combat unemployment and the resulting social consequences, which addresses the 3 pillars of sustainability - people, planet and profits. Comparing to the existing interventions in Portugal in terms of other employment and professional training centres, our methodology of social accompaniment is closer to the people, easy and quick to access (no waiting lines), with a holistic and systemic approach. Also, it is a differentiating solution, because it combines to these social responses, a work of awareness and environmental education, together with the upcycling of industrial waste into value-added products, made by beneficiaries who want to join the production unit.
ESCOLA OFICINA stands out essentially for having a proximity methodology, both with direct and indirect beneficiaries, and with the stakeholders. Regarding the solutions provided in terms of employment and education, the beneficiaries can be contacted directly by the social workers, or they can request directly the support of ESCOLA OFICINA. In a first interview, the candidate's profile is outlined and their main interests, needs and existing barriers to accessing the labour market are selected. After defining the candidate's profile, we propose the best answers for the candidate, and in case we don't have a specific answer, the social technician articulates with the rest of the network so that the candidate can have access to a complete and directed answer (for example, a candidate with addictions and who needs clinical intervention prior to the integration in the labour market. In parallel, we also do all the work of collecting job openings through close contact with the companies in the municipality, and present them to candidates according to their profile; we offer support in submitting job applications, preparing CVs and preparing for job interviews, for instance. The candidates that integrate our capacitation classes in sewing and graphic arts, can, if they are interested, integrate the Production Unit, where they integrate the production of orders in a real work context. The economic return from the production of these items, reverts to these candidates. The raw material used in the production unit is waste that we collect from industries. To this end, we carry out market research work that involves meetings and visits to companies in order to present the project and understand if they have waste that can be donated to be used as raw material. Throughout the process, data are collected on the number of beneficiaries accompanied, referred, and integrated into employment or training, as well as the tons of waste collected for ESCOLA OFICINA impact assessment.
The Escola Oficina pilot project took place in 2015-2016 in a social housing in Vila Nova de Gaia, Oporto, Portugal, with 15 residents. In 6 months, the pilot project was scaled up to 38 social housing, and in 1 year it started to give answers to the entire municipality. In 2021, inspired in Escola Oficina, the LabIN project was created, in order to give answers to the adults with slight to moderate disabilities, being now integrated in the Center for Social Inclusion at Vila Nova de Gaia. Thus, LabIN is an example of the replicability of ESCOLA OFICINA to another publics. ESCOLA OFICINA is also able for territorial expansion, since it has been sought out by people from other municipalities. For that reason, ESCOLA OFICINA has given answers to people living outside Vila Nova de Gaia, being able to be replicated to another territories.
Analysing the various components of the project, we believe that it can be replicated in other territories and even directed to respond to other types of social need, such as minority groups, elderly/retired people, among others. Assuming the project's accessibility and universality as its main objective, the methodology and processes implemented allow adaptability to different contexts, depending on the most pressing vulnerabilities and also on the specific interests of the population, taking advantage of the concrete social and business ecosystem of the place. ESCOLA OFICINA intends to expand its operations to other audiences, even seeking to strengthen ties with communities and contribute to the education and awareness of younger audiences, seeking to explore this potential for replication and scalability.
The main global challenges that the project addresses are Decent Work and Economic Growth, Quality Education and Responsible Consumption and Production. Escola Oficina were able to unite these 3 challenges: the beneficiaries integrate sewing and graphic arts classes, in which they use donated waste to transform into products. Sustainable consumption and production aim to "do more and better with less", promoting resources efficiency. In this way, we ensure the empowerment of unemployed people, without working habits and dependent on government subsidies, so that they can find new possibilities in the labour market and can achieve financial independence. Clearly, we promote a development-oriented policy that supports productive activities, the creation of decent jobs, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation. We also contribute to achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including young people, the disabled and the homeless population, and equal salaries for work of equal value. At the same time, we carry out environmental awareness and education work with citizens and businesses, and reinforce the importance of implementing a circular economy and combating waste. Through Escola Oficina we encourage businesses and consumers to recycle and reduce waste. Due to these good practices, in 2021 ESCOLA OFICINA was recognized with the Local ODS award by the Municipal Platform for Sustainable Development Goals in the prosperity dimension.
Link: https://odslocal.pt/projetos/escola-oficina--399
