Spain: Catalan NGOs call for a plan to end social exclusion

Around 2,000 Catalan NGOs have recently called for a pact to promote social inclusion in Catalonia, to earmark adequate resources for the development of social services and for Public Administrations to support social NGOs.

These demands are included in a book recently edited that collects the ideas and contributions that were put forward in a Congress of the social third system held last year. These ideas and contributions were intended to recall to the Administrations that around one million people in Catalonia are living in poverty and to call for measures to be taken to improve the present situation.

Around these measures it is particularly worth mentioning:

• A social inclusion plan for 2008, which was the main demand during the Congress and still is. This plan should have a dimension comparable to the efforts that are made to improve economic competitiveness and infrastructures or in the fields of education and housing. This plan should also have a local dimension and include the participation of those non-profit making third system organisations working with the most vulnerable populations.
• Earmarking more resources for personal independence in the framework of the social services law that was passed by the Catalan Parliament last October.
• Reforming the distribution that is currently made of the funds collected through the income tax return: In Spain, taxpayers can choose between the Church and social organisations to be granted 0.52% of their contributions, but those responsible for that Congress are of the opinion that Catalan NGOs receive less than they should according to the contributions made by Catalan taxpayers.

More info:

• www.taulasocial.org