Fuerteventura Island Council launches INSERTA to connect young graduates with private-sector employers: “That is where employment policies should be headed”

The new INSERTA programme aims to take the link between training and employment a step further by bringing some employment-integration measures directly into the island’s business sector.

Cabrera said the initiative would be run in collaboration with the University Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and would enable around twenty recent graduates to work for private companies.

The councillor noted that the Island Council had previously run similar schemes, but through scholarships, and that the aim now was to improve the terms by offering work-experience contracts. “The pay you receive as a scholarship holder is not the same as under a work-experience contract,” she said.

The aim is to give these young people, from both vocational training and university courses, their first work experience in companies, while giving those companies the chance to get to know their skills and profiles.

“That is where public administration should be heading: helping private businesses and the business sector, which generates economic activity, and giving companies the chance to get to know this recent graduate,” she said, adding that “that is where employment policies should be headed”.

The Island Council is now working on the budget amendment needed to strengthen its agreement with the University Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

The programme is expected to get under way between November and December.

New NOE expected in mid-November

The councillor also outlined the next edition of the New Employment Opportunities programme. The current project will end on 15 October, and the Island Council expects the new NOE to begin around mid-November.

The programme will once again offer 23 young graduates placements in different Island Council services for approximately a year.

Cabrera said internal demand far exceeds the number of available places. In the previous edition, she recalled, Island Council services put forward nearly 80 profiles, from which 23 had to be selected.

For the Island Council’s head of Human Resources, the programme gives recent graduates the chance to gain their first experience in public administration. “It is an opportunity for our young people, for our recent graduates who have studied in vocational training, to spend a year working in public administration and get to know it,” she said.

Memoria Viva, trails and new programmes

The department is also working to bring back an after-school activities programme for people with disabilities, linked to Aulas en Clave and also designed to provide families with respite.

Another project specifically for people with disabilities is also planned. “We also want to launch a project for eight people with disabilities to work in the Island Council offices, giving them a year-long employment opportunity,” Cabrera said.

Reviewing the employment programmes, the department head spoke with particular affection about Memoria Viva, an initiative focused on preserving historical heritage. It will end in late October, and the Island Council intends to relaunch it in mid-November.

She said the project had enabled work to be carried out in collaboration with local councils at the churches of Tetir and Tuineje, as well as in Vega de Río Palmas and elsewhere.

The programme to maintain and preserve Fuerteventura’s network of trails is also continuing. It employs 17 people and is scheduled to end in May 2027.

Cabrera highlighted the work carried out during the La Peña festivities, including cleaning the paths beforehand and restoring them afterwards.