United Way Spain, has been operating since 2016, and its objective is to achieve the common good among the most vulnerable, with projects focused on three areas of impact: education, health and employability.
Spain’s school system makes education mandatory until the age of 16. The education is mainly based on memorization of concepts rather than a practical approach. Once this mandatory education has ended 20% of students abandon school which has a big impact on its future employability and the quality of their future jobs. Youngsters need motivation, tools that empower them and develop their capabilities to adapt to the new labor market and that allow them to discover what they are truly passionate about in life.
Spain holds more than 9.28 M of people over 65 from which at least 20% live in loneliness. 90% of the death during this pandemic were over 60. they need more protection, company and emotional support. Additionally, the elderly collective have been the most vulnerable and most punished by this pandemic.
According to statistics done by the National Spanish Bank, the unemployment rate will reach 25% for 2021. 1 out of 4 people are in a situation of extreme poverty. There are many families that do not have any resources nor income and it is vital to give them basic resources and tools to improve their employability.
Our great knowledge of the third sector as well as the alliances established with a large number of social entities allows us to offer companies the implementation of social projects as they fight against the most pressing problems of our society.
Corporate volunteering is one of our pillars in every program, as we believe that changes in community must be achieved by everybody's efforts’.
HOW WE WORK
We identify the social problems of our community and look for partners who share our mission to advance the common good and develop projects that help solve them by supporting the most vulnerable. We believe that joining the efforts of Public and Private institutions allows for great things to happen. We coordinate with the Public and Private institutions, and thus we add our work to that of others who work with the same people from the same community.
To obtain effective and lasting results, we work with specialized entities, our partners and local NGOs that execute the projects we design with them to respond to real and local needs.
We work with companies, with whom we join forces to launch initiatives that turn into reality and result in corporate social responsibility in their local community. We design projects aligned with their CSR strategies to respond to their social impact concerns and favor the commitment of volunteers
We mobilize volunteers, and we add their commitment for the common good to our projects and activities.
VISION
A society where communities face their challenges collectively and in a coordinated way, where each social actor (institutions, companies, citizens and social organizations) contributes the necessary resources to overcome the problems of that community, especially of the most disadvantaged, and obtains sustainable results.
MISSION
Mobilize, coordinate and articulate the resources, efforts and contributions of the different social actors of the communities to promote the common good and improve the lives of people, especially the most disadvantaged.
FOCUS AREAS
We work exclusively at the local level, which allows us to know the needs of each community, thus being able to give the best response and attention to partners and beneficiaries. We make sure that the right people and organizations are related to respond to the needs of each local community. We work together with non-profit organizations, government, community institutions, corporate partners, volunteers and donors to improve the lives of people throughout Spain. While a short-term solution helps solve an urgent need, we work to create a lasting positive change.
Education: we develop programs to fight against school dropout as Spain in the #1 in Europe (20% of young people abandon their education from the age of 16).
Health: we work to improve people’s lives. In Spain there are 9 millions elderly people and 20% live in solitude. We have a program that provides company for those elderly in solitude.
We also accompany hospitalized minors, through science fun workshops, to alleviate their hospital stay while promoting scientific vocations.
Employability: We promote high-level training courses for long-term unemployed young people, thus favoring their access to the labor market.
United Way Spain has developed initiatives to help the most vulnerable during the Covid-19 pandemic, covering their basic needs, providing internet connection and computers for children to pursuit with their online education, providing spaces for homeless to be safe during the hardest time and hot meals for those in special situations such as elderly and families. More than 10.000 people were supported by United Way Spain from April till June and we are now starting initiatives to improve thousands of lives during these hard times, focused on education programs for those who were unplugged during the confinement, connectivity for families, tutoring, basic food and hygiene products, household support, psychological guidance and training for unemployed.
News from United Way Spain
On Monday, May 20th, Banco Santander presented the XI edition of Social Projects. United Way Spain was selected as one of the 10 winning organizations and received a € 45,000 prize.
Jorge Maortua, United Way Spain's board chair, collected the prize from the hand of Queen Doña Letizia and Banco Santander CEO, Ana Botín.
The project that won the award is MenCía, Mayores en Compaña; United Way Spain presented to this call a project with the entity “Adopta un abuelo”, which offers to connect young students to elderly people who are experiencing loneliness, all through an app, it connects generations.