- Red Cross, CEAR Canarias, Federación Salud Mental Canarias, ARSM Anchieta, Asociación Asistencial Nahia, Ahete and Acufade receive the awards.
- The award-winning projects will benefit a total of nearly 2,700 people from vulnerable groups
- The award winners emphasized the commitment of this event to contributing to ensuring the dignity of the most disadvantaged groups
The event was attended by the head of Fundación Cepsa in the Islands, Belén Machado; the Deputy of the Common and president of the jury, Rafael Yanes, as well as other members of the jury, such as the Deputy Minister of Social Rights of the Government of the Canary Islands, Gemma Martínez; the Delegate Councilor for Citizen Participation and Diversity of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Nauzet Gugliotta; the Councilor for Social Action of the City Council of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Rosario González; the head of Tenerife Isla Solidaria, Beatriz Sicilia; and Laura Hernández, representing the professionals of Cepsa.
During the ceremony, Belén Machado remarked that the Social Value Awards are the most emblematic initiative of Fundación Cepsa, since they represent the recognition of the solidarity of NGOs with the most disadvantaged groups, as well as addressing the most urgent needs, as has happened in this edition with the attention to the people affected by the eruption of the volcano of La Palma.
She also added that in this edition the awards include a contribution of €80,000 in the Islands, which will allow about 2,700 people to benefit directly or indirectly from the seven distinguished initiatives, which will be carried out throughout this year and are aimed at improving their quality of life and promote their integration.
She also highlighted the double aspect of these awards, which are committed to encouraging solidarity among Cepsa professionals through the figure of solidarity sponsors, who have become a nexus of union with the awarded entities.
Additionally, she recalled that this year the weight of the Social Value Awards in the Canary Islands has become more evident, as a Canarian NGO has been chosen among the four winning organizations for a Special Employee Award, granted by Cepsa professionals from Spain (Canary Islands, Madrid, province of Huelva and Campo de Gibraltar), Portugal, Colombia and Brazil.
For his part, Rafael Yanes highlighted Fundación Cepsa's commitment to solidarity, especially at a socially difficult time such as the one the Canary Islands are going through at the moment. In this regard, he noted that close to 30% of the population is in a situation of social exclusion. He explained that the high unemployment in the Archipelago, must be added to this, as well as the current context of migratory pressure. These aspects, together with the effects of the pandemic and the recent volcanic eruption in La Palma have made initiatives such as these awards materialize at an opportune time to be able to face this situation, he concluded.
For their part, the award-winning organizations highlighted the relevance of the Social Value Awards for carrying out initiatives that contribute to ensuring the dignity of the population, especially the most vulnerable groups, through projects aimed at providing the necessary resources to meet their basic needs, as well as guaranteeing their autonomy and social integration.
At the same time, they stressed the need to promote this type of support in order to advance towards equal opportunities and guarantee balanced social growth.
Winning projects
A total of 350 people, one hundred of them directly, will benefit from the 'SOS La Palma' project of the Spanish Red Cross, focused on meeting the needs of people who are in a situation of extreme vulnerability or social exclusion due to the eruption of the volcano, said the provincial head of the organization, Maria Teresa Pociello. The aid will be based on providing financial assistance for the purchase of food and hygiene products, household goods, furniture, and basic household appliances. This is in addition to referral to internal and external Red Cross resources and mediation to ensure access to social, health or educational resources. In addition, the beneficiaries will be monitored to assess their progress and their full inclusion in society. The project sponsor is María del Mar García.
The territorial coordinator of CEAR Canary Islands, Juan Carlos Lorenzo, explained that the organization will launch the 'Itinerary' project to support personalized itineraries of insertion in order to promote the social integration of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons, and immigrants, facilitating access to existing public and private resources both in the social field mainly, as well as in the legal, health, education, and labor. The initiative, which will benefit 120 people directly and 80 people indirectly, includes the development of initial reception actions, analysis of the situation of each user and their demands, the provision of information on specific resources, referral to internal and external services to meet the demand, in addition to providing resources and monitoring progress. Amayra García is the sponsor of this action.
The "En Primera Persona: voluntariado y participación" project of the Canary Islands Mental Health Federation will encourage volunteering in this associative network so that it is the people themselves, based on their own experience and having lived with a mental health problem, become involved in the day-to-day work of organizations or contribute their testimonies, their knowledge, and their skills in order to serve as support for other people who are experiencing similar situations. Its president, Enrique González, stated that, in addition, training actions will be developed in each of the entities of the Federation, a space for technical support will be established, an annual meeting will be held and an awareness and prevention campaign on mental health will be designed. The initiative will benefit 84 people directly and 700 indirectly. The sponsor is Tanausú Cruz.
With the aim of giving visibility to the victims of male violence through the tools offered by the performing arts, ARSM Anchieta will carry out the 'Voices Project,' which revolves around preventing and detecting situations of inequality, submission, or abuse, its president, Verónica Polegre, explained. It also refers to the different forms of male violence, creating a space where they can meet and lay the foundations for their empowerment. In this regard, creative research workshops will be held with a group of women who belong to this group and are interested in sharing their personal experiences and their relationship with the environment through a performative experience. The initiative will benefit 17 people directly and 200 indirectly. Javier Calderón sponsors the project.
The Nahia Assistance Association will promote a 'Linguistic and Cultural Inclusion Program', aimed at creating adapted learning spaces for young migrants arriving in the Canary Islands, its president, Laura Sosa, noted. To this end, they will be provided with basic social language skills and will be helped to compensate for or mitigate the differences caused by socioeconomic, linguistic, and cultural inequalities, in addition to promoting the functional use of the language as an instrument of communication. The initiative, which will have 50 direct and 100 indirect beneficiaries, also includes the use of games for the development of communication in daily life and the introduction of cultural content from different countries to encourage the development of attitudes of respect and tolerance. The sponsor is Jorge Ramos.
At Ahete, the treasurer of the organization, Antonia de León, said that the project 'Conoce mi vida, Conoce mi hemofilia' will be launched to meet the demand of those affected by this pathology to normalize the disease in society, through their personal experience and avoid situations of vulnerability and social exclusion. The initiative includes the edition of a testimonial video to share the experiences of people suffering from hemophilia or other congenital coagulopathy, as well as contributions from relatives of those affected, representatives of the association itself and health specialists. This material will be distributed among affected groups, family members, education centers, and public institutions in the social health, and education fields in order to raise awareness in society. The project will benefit 150 people directly and 500 indirectly. Its sponsor is José Román Álvarez.
The managing director of Acufade, María Elena Felipe, said that a care unit for mild cognitive impairment will be created in La Matanza to fill the existing gap in this area in order to improve the quality of life, symptoms, and autonomy of people with mild cognitive impairment, in addition to creating preventive resources that can mitigate the effects of the development of different dementias. To this end, a multi-factor intervention will be carried out, which includes reviewing nutritional patterns and healthy lifestyle habits, comprehensive physical assessment and the establishment of training plans, cognitive assessment and the application of cognitive stimulation activities adapted to each person, in addition to other aspects such as emotional support and specialized counseling. The initiative will directly benefit 80 people, a figure that rises to 240 if indirect beneficiaries are included. José Justo Quintana Baquero is the project's sponsor.
With these seven award-winning initiatives, a total of 62 projects have been awarded with the Social Value Awards in the Canary Islands since its implementation in 2008, to which a total of 575,000 euros has been allocated. Globally, these awards have distributed more than four million euros among the various geographical areas in which they are held, enabling the development of more than 425 projects that have benefited around 65,000 people.
