Our story

The NGO was created through a pilot project implemented in 2006, in the city of Canoas, Rio Grande do Sul, in the South of Brazil. Bia Kern, the founder, is a “gaúcha" (person who was born in the state of Rio Grande do Sul) who achieved her goal as an adult woman: she wanted to show to economically vulnerable women that they have strength and talent to succeed by themselves. Bia, even not having a previous knowledge of the area, started a partnership with volunteer teachers and companies linked to civil construction to teach women the techniques for building painting and textures.

"Who told you a woman can't build walls, mix cement, go up scaffoldings, and build a better future? Nobody told me that. On the contrary, I've always heard from my mother, Dona Diva, that a woman needs to be independent and feisty, at the same time she can be a man's partner. At our home, together with three brothers and three sisters, I've learned there's no such thing as men or women tasks. Everybody can and should fight for their happiness, preferably being united, with no dispute or competition", tells Bia.

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In 2008, aware that she could go further, Bia decided to leave her life as it was, asking for her family support to bet on her dream. She sold her house and got a debt in the bank. It was the rising of Mulher em Construção. Bia then organized the first training, with more than 300 women interested in applying for the 25 available vacancies. The theoretical and practical classes took place at the Asilo Lar da Fraternidade, benefiting the residents with the remodeling of the internal rooms. The successful initiative led to the creation of the institution Mulher em Construção, which has trained more than 6.000 women since then, through courses and free workshops in several areas of civil construction, indirectly benefiting more than 60,000 people.

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Since then, the NGO is sowing its metodology in partnership with several public agencies and companies which acknowledge the importance of this project and bet on the insertion of women in civil construction, due to their great productive potential and organization. The trainings include reading and interpreting blueprints, entrepreneurship and cooperativism, and the development of a critical thought concerning sexuality, self esteem, empowering, sustainability, and interpersonal relationships in the workplace.