The upcoming 30th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations (COP 30), an event to be held in Belém in 2025, has promoted a race against time for the population of Pará in search of greater technical and professional training. The purpose of promoting qualification is not only aimed at serving more than 70 thousand visitors who are likely to be in the city for “the largest global meeting on climate”. It also aims at the future opportunities that might ensue from the contingent and visibility of the moment.

Institutions such as the Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial – Senai [National Industrial Learning Service]  and the Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas – Sebrae [Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service], for instance, began to offer courses aimed at providing the necessary training in various thematic areas, such as tourism, food production, civil engineering, environment and entrepreneurship, all of them designed to provide the necessary qualification for COP 30 and the possibilities that should ensue from this mega event.

At Senai, more than 5,300 opportunities in improvement and qualification courses will be offered for the COP: from techniques in hydraulics, building electricity, installer and painter to teaching on good food handling practices and Pará cuisine. Belém, Castanhal and Santarém have joined the list of cities that are welcoming these classes based on the existing growth potential. The strategy is to foster the existing market and prepare it for future demands.

Open doors

For one of the students attending the Building Hydraulic Installer course offered by Senai, the doors that COP should open in Belém represent a chance for change. Débora Albuquerque, 30 years old, says that the focus is to get a job in the area – for her, there is already a growth trend in the sector in the city. “My husband and I already have a carpentry workshop, we work with modular furniture and, in the buildings where we work, there is always interest in someone who knows how to install pipes”, she says.

The student found out about the course by way of a friend and identified with the hydraulic realm immediately. “So, it mixes business with pleasure, and [the course] has been wonderful, because I didn't know anything about piping and now I do. There are specific piping for hot water, specific piping for cold water, piping for sewage and how you have to proceed, the standards… All of that. And there’s still a long way to go, there’s still a lot for us to learn, but it’s great, I’m loving it”, adds Débora.

Accession

Vacancies are being offered by Senai in a staggered manner until the Conference takes place. At first, 897 training opportunities were available. Davis Siqueira, executive manager of professional education at the institution, highlights that the participation of interested parties is 100% in face-to-face and distance learning. “These are professional qualification courses, starting at 160 hours of workload. Our idea, as an institution, is not just to train for the job market, but for the full exercise of citizenship”.

Teaching includes all sides of the profession so that students have complete access. “Our students see everything from theory to practice. I can say that 70% of our courses are practical. So, our idea is that people get professionalized for the COP and its demands. After the COP, these people, with the Senai certificate, which is valid throughout the national territory, will be able to exert their professions in any state in the country”, adds Davis.

Demand

Courses involving good practices in food manufacturing and masonry are among the most sought after – the job market, according to Senai, is already beginning to show a reaction towards this segment. “We have explicit demands for electricians, residential installers, refrigeration mechanics, among other courses. If you look around, our capital has buildings everywhere. It is a demand that we also have… to meet the needs of the COP, for the major works that are about to come”, says Davis.

Qualification wave reaches Santarém

The bar and restaurant sectors in tourist areas of Pará are also being boosted by the movement that the Conference is bringing. In Santarém, Senai has a group focused on this segment and everything else that comes along with it: food manufacturing, logistics distribution, process and computer operators. “We understand that many tourists must arrive in Belém, but many people should go to Santarém to visit Alter do Chão”, says executive manager Davis Siqueira.
“So, we need to understand that those bars, those restaurants, those people who work there will also need to be trained to serve the public that will arrive”, concludes Davis.

Islands

The islands of Belém, such as Cotijuba and Combu, have registered great interest on the part of the population in qualifying for the COP. The movement led SEBRAE to create classes focused on learning about urban mobility and restaurant service. Fabrícia Siqueira, an analyst from SEBRAE in Pará, explains that this process began with awareness-raising lectures and a presentation of what the Conference of the Parties will be about and its importance for the region.

“We talked to local leaders to mobilize people to attend the trainings. We have managers and they mobilize people to participate in training alongside the leaders. The demand on the islands was very high: more than 100 people in both Cotijuba and Combu were interested in the courses. In May, we will have two groups, so that we can reduce the number od attendees in the classrooms. We want to split it so that quality doesn’t drop”, emphasizes Fabrícia.

Food and beverage and creative economy courses focused on crafts are some of those offered by SEBRAE. Classes needed to be adapted according to the reality of each region. In Combu, residents preferred to attend the classes at night, due to the dynamics of the place. In Cotijuba, they decided for morning classes. “The courses contribute to the education of the population, for the future. Our projection is that 18 classes with 30 places will be offered per month, commanding 540 places per month until COP”, highlights the analyst.

Legacy

In addition to the islands, Belém, Ananindeua and Marituba are on the SEBRAE axis. In total, around 600 people have already been trained. “For us, it is a great scenario. People are interested, they are starting to understand that it [the COP] is a global event, of great value to the state, and they are starting to train themselves for their business. Those who do not have their own business, but capture the ample vision of the event, come to seek training to open their business and make it viable.”

“We have been working with our small entrepreneurs who are training for an event and this training is not one-off, it will be greatly enhanced. When the event is over, the city will be more structured, so you can even expand your business, it will have better business muscles”, concludes Fabrícia.

Program “Capacita COP 30” has 12 thousand spots

SENAI and SEBRAI operate within the scope of Capacita COP 30, a program that provides courses aimed at technical and professional qualification. There are more than 12 thousand vacancies. The initiative also aims to boost Pará's economy with strategies to develop job creation and production increase in sectors that integrate the sphere. Hana Ghassan, vice-governor of the state and General Coordinator of the Committee for COP 30, states that the main demand is to boost the local tourism chain.

“We are aiming to take advantage of the natural hospitality of Pará to, by means of professionalization, transform our vocation into a business model. The most sought-after qualifications are foreign languages, with a focus on English, and also courses linked to tourism and hospitality. The demand for courses in the area of civil engineering is also outstanding, due to the possibility of engaging in COP works”, says vice-governor Hana Ghassan.

Women

Women represent the majority of those enrolled in the program, representing 70% of the total. “The certification of these people through Capacita is the human legacy of the COP which, for us, is as important as the environmental debate. We will only be able to talk about nature preservation if our population has access to jobs and income without the need to exploit our natural resources in a predatory way, and qualifying people is certainly the way to achieve this”, concludes the vice-governor.

Municipal employees undergo training

In addition to the courses aimed at the city's stallholders, from the COP's perspective, civil servants in Belém, the headquarters of the world event, are also undergoing qualification. The classes are aimed at environmental education in the Amazon, in the context of climate change.
Jurandir Novaes, municipal secretary of Administration, responsible for the training policy in the set of investments that the capital of Pará allocates to the COP, explains that the initiative involves several sources of learning.

“We offer, at the Federal Institute of Pará [IFPA], Spanish courses for employees in the assistance area, who work with indigenous migrants and refugees. The training involves communities and people who are in the process of organizing the conference. These are major themes that we are working on, from sanitation, urban projects and public management to climate change. There is a pre-COP job growth dynamics of here, so we need qualified labor”, says the secretary.