More Respect, More Equality
Published 13.3.2023
The Ecuadorian subsidiary of Techint Engineering & Construction, Construcciones y Prestaciones Petroleras S.A. (CPP), is running a campaign to raise awareness among personnel regarding issues related to the prevention of violence against women. This is a starting point for more targeted action to eradicate stereotypes and bring about substantial changes in the community.
The CPP Social Work team has been working on its More Respect, More Equality campaign since October 2022, as a way of raising awareness among all its employees on issues related to the prevention of violence against women. The principal idea is to strengthen more positive and healthy coexistence and relationships as much in the communities where the company operates as within its own walls.
“Violence against women is a serious issue in social, human rights and public health terms. The idea of this campaign is to mitigate this problem in society,” explained social worker Jorge Portilla, adding that, “We are beginning with our own personnel as we are fully aware that all the information we give them is also shared with their families and this spreads out to include the community. The field of business is also one where we can pursue social action.”
Training · in Campo Auca.
"More Respect, More Equality" in stages
The campaign is being implemented in phases, focusing first on raising awareness, then on training, and finally on consolidation.
In the first phase, talks were held with adolescents in educational institutions where the company is present, and in parallel, efforts were made to involve local suppliers providing food, accommodation and security services.
The awareness-raising sessions focused on sharing specific concepts, such as how to establish what violence is, the different forms it can take, and the cycle of violence, for instance. The sessions employed dramatizations and group dynamics as well as reviewing the current legal regulations, to help participants understand that violent behavior is punishable.
“If we want to bring about social change, our baseline needs to be ensuring we have a thorough understanding of the problem. We must put an end to stereotypes and roles which respond to the biased preconceived notions present in our community, and which we unconsciously adopt and replicate," explained Portilla. Along with CPP's Social Work and Human Resources team, Portilla was responsible for training employees at the Auca and Shushufindi fields, as well as at the Techint E&C offices in Quito.
In the training stage, expected to take place in the first semester of 2023, the main goal is to identify and train teams of men and women interested in promoting the theme who can act as ambassadors. “They will be the ones creating actions in the community and will be responsible for these initiatives. However, they will continue to get support from us and more training to broaden their knowledge of these issues,” explained Portilla.
Finally, in the consolidation stage, in the second semester of 2023, work will begin with key local figures from the community to create specific projects designed to prevent violence against women.
Activities · in Campo Auca school.
One of the objectives behind this new campaign is to strengthen the actions planned in the context of the "Safe Company” Seal, free of violence and discrimination against women, which was awarded to Techint E&C by the Ecuadorian Chamber of Industries and Productivity (CIP) for its good practices and actions.
“We believe that it is critical to improving human relations and we are working to achieve this. We are convinced that all the good practices we carry out here in the company can be replicated everywhere,” concluded Portilla.
Training · in Quito offices.