CINIA Puebla - Job training and employment for children and young people with learning disability

A training opportunity for young people with learning disability in Mexico

releasing the lantern outside the factory
CINIA employees demonstrate how a lantern is launched.

Ana Sandóval and Fernando Diez

Ana Sandoval, ex Director of Fundación Trébol with Fernando Diez, Director of CINIA. Fundación Trébol invited CINIA to the project so that they could have a better appreciation of how the young people with learning disability live.

assembly of lanterns, CINIA factory

Cinea has the potential to employ several hundred workers. This workshop shows the production of lanterns which are sold for weddings and fiestas.

BUS stop outside CINIA factory

Paty, Rodolfo and Marisol have been undergoing training in CINIA since September 2005. They have had permanent employment from January 2006. The bus stop outside the factory is the scene of much socializing.

Employment training - the importance for young people with learning disability

In Mexico there are more than two million people with a physical handicap or a learning disability. According to official figures, 700,000 of them have no employment.

A recent positive development in Mexico has been the training and employment opportunities provided by an organization called CINIA which has been established in Puebla. CINIA was founded by Antonio Fernández Rodríguez of Grupo Modelo. CINIA works exclusively with young people who have a learning disability and provides them with an initial four months of paid training. The aim is to sign contracts with local employers and find permanent jobs for the young people. The organization has close links with Grupo Gureak, an organization established in the Basque country which has similar aims and objectives. Paty in CINIA

Our partner organization Fundación Trébol de Puebla has establised very good links with CINIA and currently has three young people in employment there. Employees of CINIA gain access to healthcare and other state benefits. In Mexico, it is unusual for people with learning disability to have an employer who respects labour law in this way. This is a tremendous opportunity for the young people as they are able to earn their own wages and integrate into the workforce. This is in line with our policy of normalization for people with learning disability.

They have the opportunity to earn a living and very much appreciate the chance to socialize with people of similar age and interests. There are certain risks involved, especially in the area of public transport, but Fundación Trébol has been working hard in this area to ensure the safety of the young people who are employed by CINIA.

In addition to the training opportunities, the young people have grown in self-confidence and are very happy to have work, in spite of the long day which it entails. They have to get up at 5.30am to catch a public transport Combi at 6.30am into Atlixco where they can take a bus to the CINIA factory near Puebla. The working day ends at 5.30pm and they are back home by 7.00. Marisol in CINIA

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