Developing capacity for decent employment and entrepreneurship: the role of community engagement

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to present the community engagement project “Construindo Alento”, designed to strengthen and develop the capacities of members of the Vila Paula (Campinas, SP) and Bairro Geada (Limeira, SP) communities. We have been using dialogic and participatory initiatives in the areas of decent work and productive autonomy (entrepreneurship). These two communities are located in cities where the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) has campi. The project was funded by the 3rd ProEC - PEX 2021, starting in January 2022. For the design of the project, we started from consolidated understandings, in the specialized literature, about the role that universities, especially public ones, can play in their localities, notably in moments of great challenges and crises that affect society. The methods used were: application of questionnaires and observations (visits), with the purpose of identifying demands. The actions carried out were the following: 1) visits to and from the communities; 2) conversation circles; 3) creation of videos, guides and manuals on the topic of decent work and vocation and higher education; 4) final projects by students of Business Managment and Public Administration programs at Unicamp. Participating in the project were students from the Faculty of Applied Sciences (FCA/Unicamp), members of the Study Group on University and Society Relations (GRUS/Unicamp), external partners - Senai/Campinas, Associação de Moradores da Vila San Martin, Centro de Esportes e Artes Unificado de Limeira (CEU) do Bairro Geada, Escola Estadual Dr. Telemaco Paioli Melges e Centro de Voluntariado Universitário - Limeira.