CriArte is a social entrepreneurship project (2016-2019) that seeks to leverage the autonomy and employability skills of people living in social neighbourhoods, with a particular focus on Roma women, creating a professional and different range of craft products that may be sold, activating social co-responsibility with other civil society organisations and raising awareness to solidary and circular production.
This is a project promoted by Caritas Coimbra, along with a broad partnership – CEARTE Vocational Training Centre on Crafts, the Association of Cerebral Palsy of Coimbra, the University of Coimbra – Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences and the Roma Association of Coimbra. This project is implemented on S. José Community Centre, a service developed by Cáritas Coimbra is in a social rehousing neighbourhood in the outskirts of the city. This area has many social inequalities and problems, like violence, poverty, drug addictions and traffic, school dropout, ethnic differences, among others. Poverty and lack of equal opportunities are intergenerational and very difficult to break and change.
The project works simultaneously in training, employment and education, with a view to creating and launching a line of products (supported by a designer) that, together with the training provided throughout the project course, will enable participants to create their own business through a social incubator solution.
