(ANS – Pamplona) – From 16 to 18 June 2026, the Salesian Vocational Training Centre (VTC) in Pamplona hosted the Technical Days on Mechanisation, which this year focused on the work that the participating centres are carrying out as part of the “Cunas que salvan vidas/Incunest” (Cots that Save Lives/INCUNEST) project.
Teachers of mechanics and electrical-electronics from Salesian VTCs in Asturias, Vigo, Santander, Madrid, León, Logroño, Zaragoza, Burgos, Bilbao, Aranjuez and Navarre took part in these technical days, during which they shared the work carried out so far and discussed future possibilities for collaboration with the “Medicina Abierta al Mundo” NGO, led by Pablo Sánchez, the young man from Navarre who won the “Princess of Girona” award for this project.
INCUNEST, the “cots that save lives”
The project was launched at the Salesian Vocational Training Centre in Pamplona in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was subsequently extended to Salesian centres across Spain during the 2021–2022 academic year. In fact, around 15 Salesian centres across Spain have joined the project since then, and the 2026–2027 academic year is set to be another landmark year for its development.
Thanks to this Salesian-led project providing life-saving incubators for premature babies or those in need of special care, over 300 ‘life-saving cots’ have already been produced and delivered to 37 countries around the world – primarily in African nations such as Senegal, Zambia, Chad, Mali, Cape Verde, Mozambique, Congo and Cameroon. The latest six cradles were taken last week by Alfonso Gordillo and Pablo Sánchez to refugee camps in the Sahara. But the incubators from this project have also reached Asia – Turkey, Syria and Nepal – and the Americas – Nicaragua, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Bolivia…
There are numerous noteworthy aspects to this project: the incubators are, in fact, low-cost, feature an innovative design, are made from affordable materials and, above all, are produced in collaboration with students at Salesian vocational training centres, which encourages the formation of generations of skilled and compassionate young people.
During the presentation of the event, José Luis Villota Cosío, Principal of the Salesian Vocational Training Centre in Pamplona, highlighted the importance of this project in sharing processes and methodology, and the intrinsic value of helping students realise that they are part of a social project in which they do not merely learn to manufacture a product, but in which they become aware that their work has enormous significance for people whom they themselves will probably never meet.
The meeting held over the past few days in Pamplona served to discuss the challenges and opportunities each centre has faced in carrying out the manufacture of the incubators, as well as in securing funding; how efforts have been made to ensure this project forms part of the academic curriculum; and how work is being done to ensure it becomes part of international mobility programmes under the Erasmus scheme.
Over two and a half days, the participating teachers received formation on how to carry out the activity and on the changes that have been implemented to produce an improved model of the incubator; they also discussed their needs and the specific ways in which they are working in each city to prepare and further refine the proposal for the coming academic year.
Finally, those attending the meeting took the opportunity to learn about some local companies active in the sector.
Fuente: Salesianos.info