In a Feed the Planet collaboration, funded by the Electrolux Food Foundation, unemployed people in Brazil are being trained at the Electrolux factory in Curitiba. The objective is to equip them with the culinary skills they need to get a job in a professional kitchen.
The first wave of training kicked off in Curitiba, Brazil, in September. Twenty-one people – many of them single mothers struggling to find a job or unemployed relatives of Electrolux employees – are being trained by 12 chefs in a specially designed training kitchen at the Electrolux factory in Curitiba.
During the ten-week period the students will learn how to provide for themselves and their families, as well as gain awareness about sustainable culinary practices such as zero food waste. The objective is to train them to find work in professional kitchens.
Electrolux employees have also volunteered to support the participants with, for example, soft skill training such as how to write a CV.
By helping people to get a job, this Feed the Planet project, run in a partnership between Worldchefs, Electrolux and AIESEC, and funded by the Electrolux Food Foundation, will help underprivileged individuals provide for themselves and their families. The curriculum, developed by Worldchefs, also aims at raising awareness about sustainable culinary practices such as zero food waste. The project is supported by AIESEC volunteers; Sodexo provides cleaning services and the food; and FAS, a local non-profit organization, helps to select the participants and organize the training.
Cosimo Scarano, AIESEC Trainee and Project Coordinator, says, “The skills we teach the students will last them their entire lives. The goal is to help them have a better quality of life and find employment.”
Over 60 people will be trained in three waves by mid-2018. This is a pilot project which Electrolux hopes to extend to other regions in the future.
Watch one of the students putting her new culinary skills into action.
About the Electrolux Food Foundation
The Electrolux Food Foundation was established in 2016, as part of a decision to focus Electrolux’s social investments and community activities on food and related sustainability issues. The Food Foundation brings employee initiatives to life by supporting them with funding and resources. The purpose is to inspire sustainable food consumption and cooking habits among consumers and professionals, and to support people in need through education and emergency relief efforts. The Foundation supports the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, for Zero Hunger (#2) and Responsible Consumption and Production (#12).
