- Assesment: The programs offered by the company offer courses in sewing, aesthetics, handicrafts and the development of employability skills.
- Social: ‘ACCIONA por Elas’, ‘ACCIONA nas Escolas’ and programs under development are expected to directly benefit more than 10,000 people by 2025.
- Identification: The actions are based on a socio-economic study of the Orange Line 6 route under construction, identifying local needs and contributing to the SDGs.
ACCIONA, a global leader in the development and management of sustainable infrastructure solutions, continues to make significant progress in its social impact management strategy, leaving a legacy in the communities that live near its operations. The company has already directly benefited more than 4,000 people in Brazil and expects to reach more than 10,000 people by 2025.
The priorities of the community programs and projects developed in the country are both quality education for children and adolescents and income-generating training opportunities for women in vulnerable situations. The actions carried out by ACCIONA are based on a socio-economic study of the route under construction, Line 6-Orange, thus identifying local needs and contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to a study conducted by the company itself, there is a high level of gender inequality and educational disparities in the communities surrounding the construction sites. For this reason, women have become a priority in the implementation of the projects, which are concentrated in Freguesia do Ó, Brasilândia and Perus, in the north of São Paulo.
INVESTMENT IN EDUCATION
In ACCIONA nas Escolas, the company has been working on debates about sustainable urban mobility. The program consists of three projects: Entre Estações, Nos Trilhos da Saúde and Segurança e Protagonimso Jovem, with activities in different educational centers and the participation of ACCIONA professionals.
The Entre Estações project, for example, brought together two schools, in different regions along the route of the line to promote debate on urban planning and its impact on sustainability.
The premise of the program is that education on sustainable mobility is a tool for social change.
A BOOST FOR THE FUTURE
In less than a year, more than 300 women have benefited from the ACCIONA por Elas program. Through different projects - Alinhavando Destinos, Estação Beleza and Entre Linhas - the program encourages entrepreneurship and women’s autonomy, professionalizing itself to generate income for vulnerable women in the communities near its works.
The participants, based on the needs and interests identified in the registry, face challenges identified in the socio-economic diagnosis, such as low education, domestic violence, early pregnancy and racial discrimination.
The Alinhavando Destinos project offers training in basic creative sewing techniques. At the end of each class, the graduates participate in a solidarity bazaar and share the money collected, giving them an initial boost to purchase new materials. Today, there are already nine classes and four workshop leaders, who are former students who now pass on the knowledge they have acquired to ensure the multiplication of the project.
Estação Beleza offers courses in the field of aesthetics, with manicure, eyebrow and eyelash techniques. Many of those enrolled face the challenge of entering the formal jobs market. Eight classes have already been formed, whose participants are encouraged to help each other and to publicize their work through a virtual card, thus strengthening their network of contacts and creating opportunities that contribute to the social and economic transformation of the communities they serve.
All these initiatives are supported by Entre Linhas, a cross-cutting project that promotes women’s empowerment through discussion circles on issues related to gender equality.
Women have the opportunity to talk with other women about their personal problems and to strengthen themselves together. The goal is to build their self-esteem and value their abilities so that they can become more empowered and independent.
Find out more about the projects by clicking here.
SOCIAL DAY
Last September, the first “LATAM Construction Social Community Day” was held at the Line 6-Orange project in São Paulo, bringing together the heads of ACCIONA Social Management in Latin America.
The location was chosen due to the scale of the Brazilian project and the international visibility of the company’s CSR initiatives in the city. During the event, participants from countries such as Mexico, Peru, Panama, Chile and Brazil shared successful initiatives and emphasized the importance of managing ACCIONA’s social impact and the sustainable socio-environmental development that will remain in the communities after the works are completed.