Bicing is launching a new edition of its Vocational School, a training programme for disadvantaged people. Like last year, this mechanics course is solely for women and seeks to help them break into a male-dominated profession.
The course is held by Serveo and BSM in partnership with the Làbora Programme of the Municipal Institute of Social Services (IMSS) of Ajuntament de Barcelona, Barcelona Activa and the organisations Fundació Surt and Intermedia Ocupació.
Initiatives like the Vocational School reinforce BSM’s commitment to equal opportunities and improved access to employment. In addition to technical training in bicycle mechanics, the programme helps participants access a traditionally male-dominated profession, helping to reduce the gender gap in the field of sustainable mobility. Ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities to find work and pursue a career in this area is key to making Bicing more accessible and equitable.
The Vocational School is one of the initiatives through which Serveo has been contributing for years to the cities in which it operates. This project creates opportunities for people in various groups at risk of exclusion, particularly women, in a highly sought-after profession due to the importance of shared and sustainable mobility in society.
Participants will receive 35 hours of theoretical training imparted by staff at the training consultancy Hedima, as well as 85 hours of hands-on training with Bicing’s mechanical team. Both parts of the course will be held at the Serveo-Pedalem’s offices and workshop in L’Hospitalet de Llobregat.
The programme will give 12 women the opportunity to learn how both traditional and electric bicycles work and how to carry out the repair and maintenance tasks typically undertaken at the Bicing warehouse. Students will also gain job search skills and resources during the course, training them for a profession that is currently suffering from a serious shortage of qualified talent. In fact, three participants of the last edition of the Vocational School for Women joined the Serveo-Pedalem workshop after the course.