The Albufeira Vocational Training Center «will be an oxygen balloon for the territory, allowing the start of an essential engine to break cycles of poverty and create cycles of innovation. We are transforming this dream into action, something that the Recovery and Resilience Plan also allowed us to do», said the minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, this Friday, November 19, in that city.
Ana Mendes Godinho spoke during the ratification of the collaboration protocol between the City Council and the Employment and Professional Training Institute (IEFP) for the creation of the Albufeira Vocational Training Center.
The space will be located in Tominhal, in Ferreiras, and will train around a thousand people a year in the areas of hotels, restaurants and tourism, allowing for the diversification of the economic base and human capital of the municipality itself, neighboring municipalities and the Algarve region.
This Training Center in Albufeira will start work shortly and will be the first to move forward from the ground up, at national level, with investments from the PRR. At this initial moment, around three million euros will be invested, two for the construction of the building and one, at least, for equipment. The work should start as soon as possible and finish in 2025.
For José Carlos Rolo, mayor of Albufeira, this Vocational Training Center will become essential for companies to find more qualified workers. "We will have a space where people can acquire knowledge and skills so that they can later be used not only in tourism, but also in other activities."
The mayor also stressed that "we will do everything for the work to develop as quickly as possible." However, Minister Ana Mendes Godinho wants the deadline for the work to be accelerated: «It cannot only be in 2025. Time is running against us all, from the point of view of development, and, above all, of this concrete instrument that can change the lives of so many people».
"Through the PRR and the PT2030, we have a great investment focus on the dimension of qualifications, as a determining driver, and we want to make a difference to ensure a more inclusive society", stressed the minister, who was also in the region for the launch of the National Aging Observatory.
With two IEFP Vocational Training Centers in the Algarve, one in Faro and another in Portimão, this new one in Albufeira was «a need felt for a long time by the population», highlighted, in turn, Miguel Cabrita, Deputy Secretary of State for Labor and Professional Training, during his speech at the ceremony.
«Albufeira still did not have a Vocational Training Center and, being one of the great economic engines in the region, it deserves and needs to have this infrastructure».
The Secretary of State also explained that today's tourist activity faces a challenge of qualification and adaptation to new times, in which the training of professionals and companies is of utmost importance.
At the end of the ceremony, Ana Mendes Godinho took the opportunity to congratulate Madalena Feu, IEFP regional delegate, for the “great challenge that she has in her hands”, and said she is sure that this will be “a very transforming instrument for people and companies, which it will give great opportunities to the Algarve and the Algarve».
Photos: Rúben Bento | Sul Informação
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