Author: Anand

Education for Employment, benefiting those in need of economic opportunity with culinary training, provides a completely free, 2-month training module to give students the skills they need to enter the foodservice world. To date, 84 students have graduated in 2 cities in Brazil and Moscow. Worldchefs, along with partners Electrolux Food Foundation and AIESEC, are preparing to launch additional programs in Brazil, Egypt, Argentina, and Sweden in this year alone. 

In February 2019, the City of Curitiba published the below article, giving a glimpse into the positive impact of the Education for Employment program in their local community. The original article in Spanish is available here.

Curitiba, Brazil · 2 February 2019: Sustainable Gastronomy Course Opens New Professional Opportunities

To change their lives with a new profession is the objective of 22 participants from the 5th wave of the Gastronomia Sustentável course, held in the Electrolux CIC Headquarters in Curitiba. The course is an alliance between Worldchefs, Electrolux, AIESEC, Sodexo’s nonprofit entity Stop Hunger, and Curitiba’s social action foundation FAS – Fundação de Ação Social.

Now on its 5th wave, 93 students have been referred to the Gastronomia Sustentável course by CRAS – Centro de Referência de Assistência Social. Graduates finish the course with the skills and certificate needed to work as kitchen assistants.

An unemployed mother with a 2-year-old child, Mayara Andrade Cardoso walks at least 1 hour every day to get to and from the experimental kitchen at Electrolux’s facility, where the 108 hours of classes taught by local chefs take place. Without an income, she doesn’t have the money to pay the bus ticket.

She learned about the course one month ago, when she went to the CRAS Nossa Senhora da Luz social assistance center to ask for a basic food basket. CRAS centers, social assistance units of the FAS foundation, indicate candidates who could benefit from the course. “I had the chance to work as kitchen assistant and I really enjoyed it. I could grow in that area if I was better prepared and that’s what I’m looking for here,” says Mayara.

New life

That is what is happening to Feliciano Raiol Correa, a graduate from the last wave of students, originally from Pará, Brazil. Living in Curitiba with his wife of four years, he started to make his dream come true by working on a grill as soon as he got his certificate at the end of last year.

Immediately, Feliciano left his job as a screen installer and started to work as a kitchen assistant in a restaurant on the gastronomic square called “Mercado Sal” in Curitiba, where he prepares grilled meat. “If it wasn’t for the course, I wouldn’t have gotten this opportunity so fast. It was so worth having attended it. Now I’m stabilizing my economy, and I get to provide for myself and my family,” he explains. His next goal is to get a college degree in the gastronomy field.

A graduate from the very first wave of the program, former bus driver Graziele Regina Ferreira dos Santos opened a snack bar called “Grazi Lanches” around three months ago.

Her establishment is an individual microenterprise in the same building as where she lives, located in one of the poorest neighborhoods of Curitiba. “My husband is supporting my dream and invested money here,” tells the young entrepreneur, once unemployed for a long time.

She prepares most of the menu items served in her small establishment. What she doesn’t produce herself, she buys from her suppliers. “I can already pay some of the house bills and now, with the kids returning to the schools, the clients’ traffic will improve even more,” tells Graziele. She also notes another advantage of her exit from unemployment: working from home, she can stay closer to her daughters, 8 and 12 years old, and also save money on transportation to work. Her objective now is to improve her culinary skills. “If it were possible, I would attend a pastry course,” she concludes.

Besides the kitchen

Besides receiving practical classes about cooking techniques and all the elements of production for sweet and savory dishes, the students attend a workshop called “Mobiliza,” delivered by FAS. The workshop focuses on behavior improvement, with a main objective to develop the abilities and competences needed in the job market.

“It’s a strategy to contextualize what they have to keep in mind in order to develop themselves in the professional arena, besides mastering the fundamentals of gastronomy,” explains FAS’s job market specialist, José Ronaldo de Avellar Júnior.

Photo credit: Ricardo Marajo/FAS

About Worldchefs

The World Association of Chefs’ Societies (Worldchefs) is a leading voice in the hospitality industry, with 110 chef associations worldwide and 91 years of history since its first President, the venerable Auguste Escoffier. Representing a dynamic global network of chefs and culinary professionals across all levels and specialties, Worldchefs is dedicated to maintaining and improving culinary standards through these core focus areas:

Education – Worldchefs offers support for education and professional development through the landmark Worldchefs Academy online training program, our expansive network of Worldchefs Certified Schools and curriculums, and the world’s first Global Hospitality Certification recognizing on-the-job skills in hospitality;

Networking – Worldchefs provides a platform for connection to chefs around the world, and a gateway for industry networking opportunities through endorsed events and the preeminent biennial Worldchefs Congress & Expo;

Competition –  Worldchefs sets global standards for competition rules, provides Competition Seminars and assurance of Worldchefs Certified Judges, and runs the prestigious Global Chefs Challenge;

Humanitarian & Sustainability – our Feed the Planet and World Chefs Without Borders programs relieve food poverty, deliver crisis support, and promote sustainability across the globe. For more information about Worldchefs, visit us at www.worldchefs.org.