Manilva Town Hall is committed to training young and unemployed people, with the aim of helping them improve their employment situation and promoting the town’s economic development. The various training courses, launched by the Training and Employment Promotion departments, have received almost 1000 applications from people interested in continuing their training.
Of particular note is the imminent organisation of the Administrative Employment Workshop, lasting 1 year and based on dual training, in which participants will receive the minimum interprofessional wage. The technical and teaching team for this training has already been selected and it will begin in early May. The participating students are over 45 years of age and hold the ESO (compulsory secondary education certificate) or equivalent. In September, a Sommelier Workshop will also take place, following the same dual training methodology.
The town is becoming a benchmark in this area, backed not only by the number of training courses being delivered in recent months, which are attracting the attention of residents of Manilva and young people from the surrounding area, but also by having become the host of the Urban Planning Conference, held in collaboration with the University of Málaga, which has now run for seven editions and lays the foundations for the future of urban planning in cities.
The mayor of Manilva, Mario Jiménez, stressed the importance of promoting training for young people in the town, as this not only benefits the students themselves but also the whole region and surrounding towns. «We are committed to the training and skills development of our population, especially young people and the unemployed. Training is key to the economic and social development of our municipality,» said Jiménez.
During 2022 and so far in 2023, more than 50 training courses have been held, promoted by the Training and Employment Promotion departments. The courses cover different fields, ranging from audiovisual training to health-related courses, lifeguarding, finance, beauty and aesthetics, and languages. Among those in greatest demand are the self-makeup and ham-carving courses and the language courses: general Aptis English, Spanish for foreigners and Spanish for Ukrainians.
For his part, the councillor responsible for the Training and Employment Promotion departments, Marcos Ruiz, highlighted the importance of training and «skills development as fundamental tools for improving employability among our population and adapting to the changes and challenges posed by today’s labour market».
To these courses must be added those of the training programme leading to a certificate of professional competence. There are 17 training activities in total, divided into three specialities: administration and management, food industries, and hospitality and tourism. This is the broadest and most ambitious range of any town hall in Andalusia. The courses are completely free and the students who have completed the training have obtained a certificate of professional competence, which improves their chances of finding a job.
Within the administration and management speciality, courses have been taught ranging from ‘Data and document entry and processing operations’, through ‘Integrated human resources management’, to ‘Administrative activities in customer relations’. In the food industries, courses such as ‘Wine and liqueur production’ and ‘Oenotechnics’ have been taught, while in hospitality and tourism, courses such as ‘Sommelier skills’ and ‘Local tourism promotion and visitor information’ have been offered.
The training has benefited from a significant number of grants. Those who have met the requirements set by the Junta de Andalucía have received aid of between 700€ and 2000€. In addition, Manilva Town Hall has granted each person on the municipal registration (padrón) 5 euros per training day (440€ in total), provided that the professional certificate has been completed with the minimum requirements for obtaining the qualification.
The training programme has been very well received by the population, not only in Manilva and Sabinillas but also in neighbouring towns such as Estepona, Casares and San Roque. This shows the importance of this type of initiative for the population, especially among younger people.
Manilva Town Hall will continue to commit to the training and skills development of its population, with the aim of promoting the economic and social development of the municipality and the whole region, and is working on new initiatives that could help with job inclusion.
In addition, the accreditation of other municipal facilities is being studied in order to expand the possibilities of obtaining qualifications in other sectors through more courses and workshops.
