The Association of Vocational Training Centres FPEmpresa has attended the celebration of the final gala of the XI edition of GIRA Jóvenes Coca-Cola at the Coca-Cola offices in Madrid. A new delivery of the project of entrepreneurship and support for youth employability that, on this occasion, has been carried out with the participation of FPEmpresa and its 28 associated centres. In total, 673 young people from 23 cities and towns throughout Spain participated in the 2023 edition.

A gala that brought together the 8 finalist groups from intermediate and advanced vocational training centres from all over Spain, where an expert jury evaluated their initiatives and selected the winners of the final round.

Among those attending the competition were Yolanda González, Deputy Director General of Vocational Training at the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, and Carmen Gómez-Acebo, Director of Sustainability at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Iberia, who highlighted “the work of the members of all the participating teams”.

“Our goal is that you really believe that you are true agents of change within the environments in which you are, because you have the talent and creativity to be so. We are also very proud to give you everything we can in your long personal and professional journey,” Gómez-Acebo told the young people.

“This final is the culmination of the incredible work of the teachers who have been involved in this project and, of course, the involvement of the students who have participated in a very enriching experience,” said Elena Argudo, director of Communication and Projects at FPEmpresa.

IES Pedro Jiménez Montoya and IES Ciudad Escolar, winners of the 11th edition of the competition

The 8 schools that have positioned themselves as finalists in the competition were the following: in the rural category were IES Valle de Camargo (Cantabria), IES María Ibars (Denia), EFA Oretana (Castilla-La Mancha) and IES Pedro Jiménez Montoya (Andalusia). The urban category was won by Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri (Basque Country), Institut d’hoteleria i Turisme de Barcelona EHTB (Barcelona), IES Ciudad Escolar (Madrid) and IES Pino Montano (Andalusia).

Finally, the IES Pedro Jiménez Montoya, together with the students of the Higher Degree in Sociocultural and Tourism Animation, has been proclaimed the winner of the rural category with ‘Regala memoria’, a challenge based on the reintegration of the elderly of Baza (Andalusia) and of those people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias who are in residential homes. To achieve this, the use of recycled computer material is proposed to help improve the cognitive training of these people.

For its part, the IES Ciudad Escolar, with the students of the Higher Degree in Web Applications Development, has won the urban area with ‘In search of the SDGs through the time machine’. This initiative seeks to raise awareness and teach about the SDGs to children at risk of social exclusion through a summer camp themed on the History of Humanity and its relationship with the SDGs.

Gira Jóvenes as an improvement in youth employability

GIRA Jóvenes is a training and employability programme that, since 2012, has been promoting the personal and professional development of young people aged 16 to 26 throughout Spain. Its main purpose is to help them prepare for the world of work.

For this reason, the entity has counted on the collaboration of FPEmpresa, whose associated centres have been, exclusively, the participants of the contest in this edition. “From the Association we continue to work to be the meeting point between companies that want to commit to VET and the associated VET centres, GIRA Jóvenes is a clear example of this”, added Argudo.

This call is divided into different phases, from the recruitment of participants and various training sessions to the development of projects and the final selection of the winners. So far, more than 7,200 young people, 350,000 hours of training and 790 paid professional experiences have been achieved with Gira Jóvenes.