Colombia: tannery workers seize education opportunity
Leather and finished leather products group Cueros Vélez is supporting the efforts of a group of workers at its in-house tannery, who have enrolled in a programme to complete their education.
A total of 23 workers at the facility, located in Amagá in the Colombian department of Antioquia, will take part in the programme, through which they will complete the middle stage of the country’s education system and receive the equivalent of a high-school diploma.
They will work with professional educators from the Universidad Católica de Oriente in Rionegro and with a local business support organisation called Comfama to complete the programme and earn their diplomas.
Co-ordinator of corporate social responsibility projects at Cueros Vélez, Paula Jaramillo, said the company wanted to help these 23 workers take this education and learning opportunity because it places great importance on people issues.
She said she was delighted for the 23 people who are taking part and praised them for their courage in coming forward. “You can see in their faces that they know they are now on the path to a better future,” she added.
