Mariela was 19 years old when she traveled to Spain, accompanied by her mother, from Guatemala. She with the desire, like all migrants when taking that great leap, to find a better life. Mother and daughter ended up in Madrid and things did not start as they had dreamed so many times before embarking on this adventure.
The only job they found was in domestic service and then came months of unemployment. But that did not discourage the two women. Mariela and her mother are not ones to give up. With almost everything against her, the young woman finished her high school studies in Spain.
And one day Mariela’s luck (today she is 21 years old) changed thanks to Instagram. Connected to that portal, like any other girl her age, Mariela found a page that talked about the Incorpora program, the socio-labor inclusion project of the La Caixa Foundation. “I didn’t think about it for a second,” recalls the young woman.
He looked for all the information about that program and made an appointment for an initial interview. From that moment (this June 13th will mark one year since the turnaround in Mariela’s life) “everything has gone smoothly,” she adds.
He works as a butcher assistant in a supermarket stall in the Argüelles neighborhood of Madrid. The Incorpora program “has given me an opportunity, impossible without that help, to learn a trade.” Mariela also found a job that she likes: “I had always been attracted to the meat and delicatessen business,” she confesses. She now has a contract and claims to be “delighted” with her work.
He is still very young and, therefore, takes life relatively calmly. She doesn’t know if this will be her life’s work, but she continues learning as if it were the final one. Although she does not hide another dream: “to one day resume my studies to be an administrative assistant and, if possible, specialized in finance.”
“The management of diversity as a source of innovation and attraction of talent, in turn supported by the promotion of equal opportunities, is one of the fundamental principles on which Carrefour Spain’s labor integration policies are based,” he states. Gloria Cuadrado, director of Talent and Transformation.
This chain has collaboration agreements with 140 social entities. Last year the La Caixa Foundation joined that list. “We jointly designed a training and internship itinerary for the butchery sector and 150 participants were selected,” at risk of social exclusion. More than 70% – among them Mariela – were hired after finishing the training.
Gloria Cuadrado assures that with programs like Incorpora “we all win.” People are trained in profiles of jobs that are in high demand in our country “and with them it is possible to fill those positions and give a job opportunity to those people who seek job integration and with it social insertion,” concludes Cuadrado. For 2024, Carrefour has opened the fishmonger’s apprentice itinerary. Last year, Incorpora of the La Caixa Foundation promoted more than 42,000 contracts for people in vulnerable situations.
