NewsThe Manabí Workshop School receives the class of 2023
Group photo of the new students of the class of 2023 of the Manabí Workshop School.
For the next nine months, more than 100 students in Ecuador’s Manabí Province will be trained in sustainable construction with bamboo.
In the canton of El Carmen in Ecuador, the class of 2023 of the Manabí Workshop School on Sustainable Bamboo Construction gathered in a ceremony to welcome the upcoming school term.
The Workshop School is part of the broader project on using bamboo to address Ecuador’s housing shortage while also addressing climate change and generating green jobs. Bamboo has been noted by the country’s president as being more resilient than common building materials like concrete, steel and zinc, while also revitalizing the local economy and bolstering livelihoods.
Leaders from government and other supporting organizations spoke at the opening event.
The objective of the Workshop School is to strengthen the sustainable bamboo construction chain as a local development strategy. In this new class, more than 100 students, including women, men and youths will broaden their knowledge of this resource and become professionals in bamboo carpentry and assembly of bamboo structures, with formal accreditation by Ecuador’s Ministry of Labor. During the event, Luis Miguel Gómez, General Coordinator of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), highlighted the work carried out by INBAR in the country. “Bamboo is strategic for the agency. It is a firm commitment from Spain to work in Ecuador because this resource generates a future, protects the environment and offers many opportunities,” he added.
Rodrigo Mena, mayor of El Carmen, also indicated the importance of these training spaces for the regional community: “The Workshop School has a huge impact on the economy of producers and citizens in general. In addition, it helps us defend the environment.”
The Workshop School will be in session for nine months, offering classes on Saturdays and Sundays at local facilities. This will be the second class of students to enroll at the Manabí Workshop School. The first class of over 70 students graduated last year in Portoviejo, the capital city of Manabí Province.
Students of the Workshop School in attendance at the opening ceremony.
In addition to stimulating the local economy, the initiative promotes respect for cultural diversity, gender equality, care and attention to the environment, and aims to promote bamboo across the province, where approximately 145,000 hectares of the versatile resource can be found
The Workshop School is developed within the framework of the project Post-Covid Economic Revitalization in Manabí Province Through Strengthening Sustainable Bamboo Construction, financed by AECID together with the support of the GAD of El Carmen, the FUNDER Foundation, the 4 de Diciembre Educational Unit, and the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing of Ecuador.
