Talleres de San José

A programme of Alianzas de Esperanza

Productive units that train people and generate local work while they make, repair and prepare items used directly in the communities’ recovery projects.

The context

Recovery begins where the emergency ends

This does not replace humanitarian aid. It works on the stretch that comes next — the one that decides whether a community starts producing again or waits for the next round of help.

1

Emergency

  • Shelter
  • Food
  • Health and protection
2

Recovery

  • Local work
  • Reactivating spaces
  • Training
3

Capacity that remains

  • Trades
  • Useful production
  • Income and community

The circuit, concretely

  1. People affected by the disaster
  2. Training and work
  3. Production
  4. Their community’s recovery
The key idea

We are not competing with immediate relief. We want recovery to leave behind local work, production and installed capacity. A community does not only need to be assisted: it also needs to produce again and sustain itself.

The solution

The workshops are not the goal: they are the tool

Talleres de San José develops productive units that train people and generate local work while they make, repair and prepare items that will be used directly in the communities’ recovery projects.

There are four lines. The pilot starts with just one.

Carpentry

CNC · cutting · edgebanding · assembly · furniture · doors · windows

Pilot being set up · Cartago

Upholstery

Tapizado · espumas · estructuras de mobiliario · reparación

Part of the model · not yet in the pilot

Sewing

Máquinas industriales · textiles · dotación · reparación

Part of the model · not yet in the pilot

Metalwork

Welding · structures · supports · doors · components

Part of the model · not yet in the pilot

Conceptual renders

How each line will look

The workshop has not been built yet. These images show what is planned, and each one says so on its face so it is not mistaken for a record of something that already exists.

Render · not a photograph Render conceptual del área de carpintería
CarpinteríaPanel saw, CNC, chip extraction and workbenches.
Render · not a photograph Render conceptual del área de tapicería y costura
Upholstery and sewingCutting table, industrial machines and textile storage.
Render · not a photograph Render conceptual del área de herrería y metalmecánica
Ironwork and metal fabricationWelding table, band saw, pillar drill and protective gear.
Render · not a photograph Render conceptual del área de herramienta y dotación
Tools and kitThe hand tools and protective equipment of each station.
Render · not a photograph Render conceptual del taller completo con las cuatro líneas en operación
All four lines at onceThis is how training and work happen while production happens: it is not a school that also manufactures, nor a workshop that also teaches.

The rest of the renders — the floor layout and the twelve labelled areas — are in the archive.

What the workshops produce is used directly in the recovery

First pilot

Cartago: start small to prove a serious model

Test processes, costs, organization, training and results before scaling.

  • Train local talent with technical support.
  • Create real work opportunities within the community.
  • Make and repair doors, windows, furniture, storage and other components.
  • Meet community needs and, where relevant, diocesan needs tied to the recovery.
  • Document what we learn in order to assess a possible replication.

Second pilot

Quibdó: taking the model to Chocó

The October guide adds Quibdó as a pilot site, alongside Cartago.

  • History and location of the future workshop.
  • Plans, renders and progress, identified as such.
  • Still to be documented: there is no evidence to publish yet.

Start · Prove · Document · Improve · Replicate

Who is it produced for?

Need first. Production second.

The project does not revolve around one type of building. It responds to recovery needs already identified in the territory.

Community centers and spaces

Halls, meeting rooms, and spaces for services.

Educational, social and training spaces

Support for educational, cultural and community activities.

Programs for children and families

Furniture, supplies and basic equipment.

Diocesan facilities

When they form part of the recovery needs already identified.

The Church is an active part of the alliance and of the territory’s needs — not the project’s only destination.