The CIBA. Resource space for women, innovation and feminist economics, of the Santa Coloma de Gramenet City Council (Barcelonès Nord), begins a new stage with more innovative resources aimed at citizens. One of the main innovations is the start-up of a residential space for comprehensive care for women victims of sexist violence and their children. The mayoress, Núria Parlon, remarked that “we must be equal and equality starts from making the different resources available to citizens, in an intergenerational way, to solve the different problems caused by inequality and that affect our society. The first , which is linked to violence, we must combat it with all our resources”.
The objective of the residential space is to offer a new model of emergency reception to women and their children in order to be able to provide them with accommodation, protection and personalized professional accompaniment, putting at their disposal all the means available for their recovery. It has eight fully equipped apartments, with capacity for thirty people, with common areas, such as a community kitchen, laundry room and living room, and an outdoor area for children.
Three years after the inauguration of the first phase (1,976 m²), and after the rehabilitation and adaptation works of the rest of the space, La Ciba is now launching a new phase with more innovative resources. In total, the area rehabilitated between October 2021 and May 2023 has been 3,244 m², corresponding to the two upper floors and the space that was still to be enabled on the first floor.
The commitment to the construction of a facility that promotes equality policies that includes all the vital moments and all the challenges that women have to face throughout their lives, aims to strengthen the emancipatory opportunities of the citizenry, especially of women and girls and boys, but also for all people and institutions that have equal opportunities at the heart of their projects.
The workshops are new spaces that are also released with the 2nd phase of La Ciba. These are versatile environments that offer opportunities for practical learning and the acquisition of skills in various emerging fields, such as textiles, cooking, repair, audiovisual or new technologies, with the aim of offering professional training and accreditation. of professional skills.
The CIBA wants to become “a toolbox” for the construction of the present and the future of the women of the city, placing special emphasis on the aspect of accompaniment for economic autonomy. According to the management of this pioneer facility, the city’s per capita income will improve if families add income from new sectors of the economy that demand employment. It is these employment niches to which La Ciba dedicates efforts to generate alliances between the public and private sectors to multiply the results.
The coworking space is an accommodation, work and technical assistance service for women’s economic projects and those who work in the field of gender equality. A space to promote entrepreneurship and that wants to promote interaction and collaboration between professionals from different sectors, companies and economic initiatives, as well as the co-creation of common projects.
The three training rooms at La CIBA are spaces designed to facilitate an interactive and dynamic learning environment. These classrooms are equipped with state-of-the-art technology, allowing participants to access digital resources, make presentations, and engage in collaborative activities. Digital whiteboards provide interactive tools that enrich the training experience, facilitating communication, the exchange of ideas and the visualization of content more effectively.
The CIBA Restaurant is a project reserved for the social economy that will offer a new meeting, gastronomic, leisure and participation space in the city, and will promote the labor insertion of women in situations of special vulnerability. The restaurant has an interior space of 324.64 m² divided into a cafeteria and dining area, as well as a 524 m² outdoor garden, with capacity for 82 people inside and for 64 people on the terrace.
The urban gardens of La CIBA are not only spaces for growing food, but also enriching socio-educational environments. These gardens offer opportunities for the citizens of Santa Coloma to acquire practical knowledge about urban agriculture, sustainability and healthy eating. In addition, they promote community participation and collective learning in which cultivation techniques are shared, experiences are exchanged and ties are strengthened between the participating people.
The Room of the ‘Consell de les Dones’ (Council of Women) offers this consultative body its own work space in the CIBA, both to hold the sessions of the work commissions and for the member entities that need to meet to maintain their own meetings.
