Comunitary Development and Socio-Labour Intervention in the Periphery, Salamanca (Spain)

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Reference Date: 26-07-98

Experience selected in the 1998 Dubai Award for Best Practice, and catalogued as BEST (included between the 40 best practices). ( Best Practices Database.)
País/Country: Spain

United Nations Region: Europe
Ecological region: continental
Activity: neighbourhood
Partnerships: Non-governmental organization (NGO). International Agency (Multilateral). Regional government. Local Authority.

Themes = Economic Development: enterprise development (formal and informal sectors); entrepreneurialship; training. Poverty erradication: job creation; vocational training. Social Services: education; health and welfare; recreation.

Main contact:
Emiliano de Tapia Pérez
C/ Almendralejo s/n
Salamanca
Spain 37008
Tel: +34 923 19 24 28
Fax: +34 923 19 24 28

Partner:
European Social Fund (ESF) (International Agency (Multilateral)
M. Angeles Riesgo Sánchez
C/ Pio Baroja, 6
Madrid
Spain
28009
Tel: +34 91 347 86 33
Fax: +34 91 310 28 30
Partner One Support Type: Financial Support

Partner:
Regional Government of Castilla y León (Regional Government)
Alberto Prado Santos
C/ Correhuela, 18
Salamanca
Spain 37001
Tel: +34 923 21 61 01
Fax: +34 923 21 43 01
Partner Two Support Type: Financial Support

Partner:
Council of Salamanca (Local Authority)
Teresa Alfonso González
C/Peña Primera, 17-19
Salamanca
Spain
37001
Tel: +34 923 27 91 63
Partner Three Support Type: Financial Support

Nominating Organization
Marta García Nart
Spanish National Committee
Paseo de la Castellana 67
28071 Madrid
Spain
Tel: +34-91 597 75 72
Fax: +34-91 597 86 04
E-mail: mgnart@mfom.es

Financial Profile:
The total cost of the action since 1995, 1996 and 1997 was: 179.000.000 pts
Contribution ASDECOBA: 5%
Contribution FSE: 50%
Contribution Council: 25%
Contribution others: 20%

Total cost for 1998: 67.900.000 pts
Contribution ASDECOBA: 4,5%
Contribution FSE: 40%
Contribution Council: 38%
Contribution Regional Government of Castilla y León: 17,5%

S U M M A R Y

Although the above-mentioned HORIZON-TRASTORMES programme started in December 1.995 following a grant awarded by The Social European Fund, The Buenos Aires Association of Communitarian Development (being called before, Cultural Association of Buenos Aires) had already been created in 1994. This Association has been the
main promoter of the following programmes described below.

In the above-mentioned districts there is some lack of infraestructures which put them in disadvantage against other more central districts.

In addition there is a high percentage of population at a risk of social exclusion as well as a wide group of gipsies with very little integration in the community. The Interventions done in the area up to that moment had been of a fragmentary nature and had little interinstitutional coordination.

In the last few years our work have had a possitive impact on some aspects such as on the strenght and support of the social fabric, on the creation of new channels for coordination in order to get an integral intervention and the creation of new infraestructure, previously inexistant.

Finally, we would like to underline as vital the active participation of the own community in order to solve their own problems by themselves. This insolves the identification of their own needs as well as the look for more appropiate alternatives.

Key Dates

N A R R A T I V E

1. Situation before the beginning of the programme

The environmental and socio-economic reality of the area has got the following features:

• More than 40% of the population are between 10 and 30 years old.
  
• A high percentage of them lacks professional qualifications. This limits their access to the labour market.
  
• A high percentage of absentism and schooling failure, being this even higher among the gypsie population. The ethnic relationship between whites and gypsies are worse by problems such as drugs and intolerance.
  
• Lack of organization within the social fabric, with very little people's participation.
  
• The intervention of the social agents and institutions in the area are fragmented and overlap each other.
  
• The lack of infraestructures put the local population at disadvantage in comparison with other more central areas.
  
• There is a bad image of the area in the rest of the town, due mainly to the traffic of drugs.

As a result of the above situation, the area's social agents, bodies and/or institutions reach to the conclusion of working together and coordinate all actions together in order to get more
efficient results.
In this athmosphere of cooperation "The Cultural Association Buenos aires" is born. Later on, this Association will be called "The Buenos Aires Association of Communitarian Development" (ASDECOBA) and it will include all the collective groups and bodies working in the area. In addition, it establishes direct channels of comunicattion with the different Administrations of the city.

2. Clarifying priorities

A quality survey on the social reality where our work would take place was a previous and necessary taken step in order that our action plan had a solid base from where to start.

The above-mentioned study was carried out by the University of Salamanca (Faculty of Sociology). It followed a method of Participatory Action Research (PAR) in which the own community and its members became the protagonists of it [1].

The are in the study some "problems to be solved" as a result of a series of experienced perceptions by the community. They are as follows:

1. High level of unemployment.
   
2. Little participation of the community.
   
3. Little social awareness.
   
4. Situation of risk for young boys and girls.
   
5. Progressive deterioration of the environment.
   
6. Difficult relationships between whites and gypsies.
   
7. Problems derived from the traffic of drugs.
   
8. Bad image of the area in the rest of the town.

3. Aims, strategies and use of resources
Taking into account the results of the above study we developed and integral interventió plan based on the following objetives:

1. To create a social awareness which will allow the participation of the community in the solution of the problems of the near environment.
   
2. To offer a group of actions in order to prevent unhealthy behaviour among young boys and youngs girls.
   
3. To strenghten the existing social fabric by supporting all initiatives born from different social groups, associations and bodies working in the area.
   
4. To promote iniciatives addressed to improve the problems of unemployment among collective groups at a social disadvantage. All this from an innovative perspective which will take into account the individual limitations of each person.
   
5. To facilitate meeting areas where the different social groups will learn to respect differencies among them as well as to generate attitudes of tolerance and solidarity.

1. Prevention: addressed to the children and youngsters and coordinated by the Centre of Children Education. This center includes the following services and activities: Ludoteque,
Kindergarden, Study Support, Libreru, Sports, Leisure, Parents' School an Street Education.

2. Promotion: addressed to the general population, with a double dimension:

1. Various actions by the different bodies and social agents working in the area.
   
2. Various actions addressed to the discussion and analysis of existing problems. Up to the present the following issues have been discussed: Analysis of needs, Employment issues and health
   and environmental issues.

• Welcoming: by an agreed and signed pact of individual insertion.
  
• Socio-communitarian training: where basic skills are developed in order to be able to manage as a person in the every day live.
  
• Socio-working training: in this phase a specific professional training is incorparated. At the same time, some basic knowledge on self-employment is developed or on the creation on their own
  companies.
  
• Phase of job insertion as a such.

Although ASDECOBA has been the promotor of this experience there has been the need to activate any technical, political and financial support needed in order to be able to carry out all these
activities.

Due to the fact that the cost of all actions until December 1997 has been 179.000.000 pts. several institutions and administrations have supported the activities by subsidising the programme:
Ministry of Labour and Social Issues, Regional Government of Castilla y Leon, Ministry of Education and Culture, National Institute of Emplyoment.

However, we would like to emphasize the special closer support by the following two bodies: The European Social Fund and the Council
of the City of Salamanca.

4. Process

The intervention plan described above has been carried out under the perspective of the community's participation and has combined the efforts and resources developed in the area by the different groups and social agents.

Nevertheless, we have encountered the following difficulties when implementing the plan:

• The need of esternal funding has created unwanted delays.
  
• Lack of common and coherent intervention plans by the corresponding Administrations.
  
• The atmosphere of acumulated tension through the years has orevented the normalitation of living together between gypsies and whites.
  
• The awareness and sensibilitation or the Administration and the general population on the need of initiatives where the social rentability is prior to the economic one. In addition, the
  need to view these initiatives as a long term project.
  
• The monitioring of a social economy company implies some added costs, both in term of human resources and economy.
  
• Some added difficulties when becoming part of an open market where one competes directly with the private sector.

We will analize the changes and experienced impact since the project started three years ago. This analisis will follow the enclosed headings:

A. Strenght of the social fabric and the communitarian participation:

• Some mechanism of participation are created in order to allow the population's involvement in the management of several acttions such as Assembleis and Commissions.
  
• New associations are created. These associations include different sectors of the population not incorparated previously.
  
• 250 people from several sectors of the population risk of social exlusion benefit directly from the programme. In addition, 1000 more people benefit indirectly from it.
  
• 5% of the gipsy population participate successfuly in several actions.

• The different social agents and organizations' actions in the area are permanebtly coordinated.
  
• Tow new interinstitutional tables are created and encouraged: the educatinal and youth ones.
  
• A new integrating action plan is craeted. It includes the following aspects: health, education, training, employment and environment.
  
• A network of exchange of experiencies with similar national and international organizations working in similar areas is created.

• Complementery support structures are created in order to allow the population's access to the programmes.
  
• Educatinal material adapted to the aimed population is written.
  
• A social economy company is created.
  
• New services non-existant until now such as catering, recicling and selected second hand clothes for sale are incorporeted to the market.
  
• There is a project to create a new nave in where to shelter a constalation of companies for the employment and self-employment of the most needed people.

5. Sustain

Project maintenanceThe development of each and all of the above-mentioned actions aims to improve the standard of live understood in a wide sense. It involves both the population's living conditions and the environment where they live.
The following aspects are included under the above premises:

• The communitarian development actions' future is consolidated in three mian areas: Prevention, Promoting, and Training-Employment.
  
• Mechanisms of awareness and support for the community's reivindicative nature in order to take consensoused decisions with relation to administration.
  
• Stable interinstitutional tables are
  consolidated.
  
• Supportiing structures such as a kindergarden and a monitored sheltering flat for youngsters above 18 years-old are created.
  
• Activities that incorparate the gipsies' traditional occupations such as itinerant selling and scrap collection are creted.
  
• A new social economy, "ALGO NUEVO, S. L." (SOMETHING NEW, lLTD."), is created. Its aim is to gradually generate new jobs and facilitate new self-employment alternatives.
  
• Noticeble improvenment in the negative perception of the areas by the rest of the town by using the local media.

6. Transference
After assessing our work up to now, and in contrastwith other similar experiences with populations ata social exclussion risk and in environments with little infraestucture and a progressive deterioration we believe the following needs to be taken into account:

1. The community madiation is essential for the incorporation of those excluded groups to the socio-working world.
   
2. The individualization of the insertion's itineraries is essential. Each individual person is the key to this development.
   In our case, structures as street education and sheltering flat
   as well as tools such as the insertion pact and the socio-communiy education have proven to be vital elements in this intervention.
   
3. The economy structure in which these groups are more easily integrated is the companies of a social economy.

7. References

See Press Dossier:

1. Press Dossier.
   
2. Investigation "Vivir en la Periferia".
   
3. Comunitary Inviciative of employment, comunitary social education.
   
4. HORIZON-TRASTORMES Programme.