Company

We give the floor to the women of the welding course hosted by Ecor International

For some jobs, there is now no distinction between men and women: in fact, the welding course organised by Megahub and hosted by Ecor International was attended only by women.

Aspiring welders

The welding course participants’ practical experience, hosted this week in Ecor International’s workshops, has come to an end. Silvana, Marta and Fabiola wanted to put themselves to the test to learn a new profession and get to know the different types of welding.
It is not so commonplace to see a woman under a welder’s helmet, but in Ecor International’s production departments, the concept of gender equality finds concrete expression, as has already been demonstrated in the past.
We took the opportunity to meet the course participants and gather their impressions, motivations and expectations for this course and collected them in a video.

European initiative

The course, which is organised by the Cooperativa Samarcanda through its Megahub workshop and is part of the European project Smelt, aims to overcome stereotypes of welding as a male job and was therefore also addressed to women.
Ecor International, as a partner in the project, showed the workshops where male and female employees do their welding work: welcoming places and production departments characterised by order and cleanliness.

The project SMELT

The 80-hour course was organised by the Cooperativa Samarcanda and is part of the SMELT project, an European initiative that has the dual objective of supporting people to enter the world of work and tackling the paradox of corporate sectors suffering from labour shortages and the high number of vulnerable unemployed.

By combining skills and experiences of associations, companies, vocational training centres and fablabs (digital prototyping workshops) from different European countries, the project plans to promote the organisation of specific training courses in the field of welding.

Cooperativa Samarcanda’s training course is aimed at increasing job opportunities, giving participants the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of the labour market and explore the possibilities they have locally in the welding sector.

The Cooperativa Samarcanda and Megahub

Samarcanda is a Social Cooperative that aims to pursue the general interest of the Community, for the social integration of citizens and the promotion of equal opportunities.
These aims are implemented in the territory through reception, prevention and support services for the weaker groups, the local community and social realities of the Upper Vicenza area, privileging the street and informal meeting places as an observatory.
Open to the entire citizenry, Megahub charts its course on the basis of four principles: craftsmanship, sustainability, innovation and territory, and its areas of activity are the workshop (innovative and traditional machinery), coworking (a shared work space for freelancers) and training (courses and workshops in handicrafts, 3D and rapid prototyping).