Iberdrola and Save the Children will work together to help young people become integrated into the job market and society

Iberdrola, through its Foundation in Spain, and Save the Children, will work together to improve the employability and social integration of young people. Their intentions were formalised in a collaboration agreement designed to improve the employability of groups facing marginalisation and poverty.

The initiative, in collaboration with Illescas Town Council (Toledo), will be hosted by the Family and Adolescent Services Centre) (Toledo), where dozens of young people aged 16 to 30 will learn the skills they need to get and keep a job.

The cooperation agreement is aligned with the commitment by the Iberdrola Group and its foundation in Spain to improve job prospects and provide inclusive training for young people. This is an area that was supported by Iberdrola's Foundations Committee at its most recent meeting and to which the energy company and its Foundation have allocated 14 million euros over the last five years.

Training tomorrow's workforce

Iberdrola and its foundations around the world operate several different programmes to train the workers of tomorrow as well as people at risk of marginalisation. The initiatives include the following:

• The European Re-skilling 4 Employment Programme from the European Round Table for Industry (ERT), jointly managed by Iberdrola, to help people at risk of losing their jobs due to the impact of digitalisation by training them in new skills. The project seeks to promote 2.5 - 5 million jobs in Europe and between half a million and a million in Spain by 2030 among the long-term unemployed, youngsters and people over 45 years of age.
• Iberdrola also offers an International Masters' Scholarship Scheme, which awards grants to young people to be trained in areas such as engineering, science and technology in colleges and universities worldwide. Since it was launched, around 1,000 young people have received grants from Iberdrola.
• The Social Programme run by Fundación Iberdrola España supports other initiatives in this area, with projects like 'En clave de igualdad', carried out by the Asociación Candelita (Madrid). The programme helps to improve the job prospects of socio-economically disadvantaged women, supporting them so they can acquire the skills they need to get jobs.
• Through the Fundación en España, Iberdrola and the Fundación Gizakia (Bilboa) are working to prepare training plans for women, with the intention of reducing inequality and developing their social, personal, educational and job skills to put them in a better position in the job market.
• In Spain, the company supports the 'YO PUEDO' initiative, in collaboration with the #EmpleoParaTodos programme run by Fundación Adecco, training people with intellectual disabilities and mental illnesses to find and keep jobs.
• In Brazil, the company's subsidiary Neoenergia has had a School for Women Electricians since 2019. This programme focuses on improving the career prospects of women in the electricity sector. The initiative has been recognised by the United Nations WeEmpower programme for its contribution to female empowerment through education and professional development. Programmes for encouraging women to take up STEM careers are also being implemented in countries including Mexico and Spain.