Employment and cultural heritage: the case of Noheda. The Recual programme.

The programmes for professional requalification and retraining and employment (RECUAL) are part of the public employment and training programmes established in the revised text of the Employment Act, approved by Royal Legislative Decree 3/2015, of 23 October.

They are temporary programmes in which training and employment alternate. The aim is for participants to learn while they carry out productive work in activities of public and social interest.  The aim is to improve labour market insertion through professionalisation and the acquisition of experience of unemployed participants.

The participants are hired for six months by the promoting entity, through the figure of the training and apprenticeship contract, which has a training phase of at least 25% of the contract hours and a work phase of actual work. Thus, at the end, participants obtain a certificate accrediting the units of competence associated with the modules included in the training programme.

From 2009 to 2020, 6 Employment Workshops have been developed in the Villa Romana de Noheda and the Programme for Professional Re-qualification and Re-training that we are currently carrying out.

In the current programme, in the training phase, a Certificate of Professionalism level 1 of the professional family of building and civil works is being taught, which allows students to work in the professional area of masonry, a very male-dominated sector with a high deficit of professionalization.

They also receive training in occupational hazards, environmental and gender awareness and basic training.

At the end, the participants obtain an official qualification and have gained experience in the trade, as well as being able to benefit from social benefits and allowances.

The promoter of the project and beneficiary of the grant is the Patronato de Desarrollo Provincial, a body dependent on the Provincial Council of Cuenca. It is quantified at 91,452.64 euros provided by the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha and 7,000 euros provided by the Patronato Provincial, bringing the total cost to 98,452.64 euros.

The enhancement of the site began with awareness-raising work aimed at the local inhabitants. Initiatives such as the holding of Roman days contributed to raising the awareness of the local population and supporting the project. As for the work carried out in the current RECUAL, it has focused on bringing to light an imposing building of some 800 metres in plan, carrying out the delimitation work. This building is located between the Sala Triabsidada, where the impressive mosaic is located, and the baths or balneum.

It should be noted that today we have a site that can be visited, with a building that houses a tri-absorbed room of almost 300 square metres with a spectacular mosaic, a balneum that has already been excavated and on which work is being carried out for its restoration and museum project. In addition, of the people hired in the workshops, between 16-20 per call, 2 stable jobs have been created with a qualified profile linked to visits to the site as well as several more associated with the maintenance and management of the facilities.