Fundación Tomillo - Spain

Fighting against unemployment in Villaverde

The project takes place in the district of Villaverde, which has a high unemployment rate, a low educational level, a low per capita income per family and a high migration rate.On the one hand, 23.7% of people under 25 are unemployed in the Community of Madrid, and this rate is much worse in Villaverde. There are currently thousands of disadvantaged youth who do not have access to employment due to their lack of technical training and social-emotional skills. On the other hand, many companies in the area need skilled workers, since the Villaverde district is developing a state-of-the-art logistics pole. Therefore, the challenge is to connect these young people at risk of exclusion with their first job opportunity in emerging sectors and professions.

In the Community of Madrid, 23.7% of people under 25 are unemployed

Connecting people with employment opportunities

The project aims to connect 20 people in vulnerable situations, preferably young people, with employment opportunities. To this end, a training action is developed in the logistics sector, called “Warehouse Specialist”. This quality training is free and provides a certification in a sector which is currently in high labor demand. It supports unemployed young people who are living in disadvantaged urban areas, lacking training and have little support network.

How to proceed to train the targeted people

Fundación Tomillo is an important and very well known NGO in Spain, which has been helping young people at risk of exclusion in Villaverde since the 1980s. They are a reference for partnering with private companies in training people in jobs that are directly needed by companies. 

To train the young people, Fundación Tomillo first makes a diagnosis of personal and professional skills, socioeconomic situation, support network are analyzed, as well as their state of health (physical and psychological) and how this influences their daily lives, and in finding and keeping a job. Once the participants are selected, they are trained for both hard and soft skills, they practice with companies, have job counseling and take part in interview simulations. Each student and the group in general are monitored in meetings called “cloisters”, in which the training is continuously evaluated: group adaptation, possible improvements, student monitoring, individual cases, etc. This system promotes involvement of the students and makes it possible to anticipate dropouts knowing personal situations that affect the continuity of the training.

The Air Liquide Foundation’s support

Foundation Air Liquide's endowment funds technical staff (counselor, intermediary, coordinator), teaching materials, outsourcing of technical training and certification, teaching skills development sessions, material for practices and other structure expenses like departments of accounting, human resources, administration, consumable office material, etc. It also pays for insurance for the students and communication about the project, which are essential to conduct the project.

Air Liquide employees are involved in the project too, as they provide expertise in the logistics sector. They inspire students by organizing company visits as well as workshops or storytelling of stories of improvement and that motivate the students.

Sonia Garcia del Cerro, monitoring manager of the project

“I think this collaboration is very interesting, from a CSR point of view we act in the neighborhood on one of our historical and bigger sites and can allow also Employee Experience and proudness of belonging to our teams in Villaverde”