Care for dependent persons

Obra Social Caja Madrid supports initiatives to foster social integration and job placement for dependent persons. In 2008 a total of €56.5 million were invested in projects and centres catering for people suffering disability or chronic disease, and those at risk of social exclusion.

In 2008 this aid was basically channelled through the following projects:

Calls for projects to assist people with disabilities and their families

Obra Social Caja Madrid provided funding for some 364 projects to assist the disabled, benefiting 201,647 persons directly and another 701,635 indirectly.

This aid has been used to support efforts aimed at prevention, early attention, rehabilitation and, most importantly, the construction, expansion and refurbishment of the infrastructure for residences, day and occupational centres.

Calls for projects to assist persons suffering inequalities or at risk of social exclusion and their families

The 280 projects in this area benefited 562,685 persons directly and 2,247,373 indirectly. Target collectives include socially vulnerable children and young people, alcoholics, drug addicts and ex-drug addicts, HIV-positive and AIDS patients, prisoners and ex-prisoners, victims of domestic violence, prostitutes and the homeless.

Most of these projects are designed to promote prevention, rehabilitation and training for the persons involved. In parallel, funding is provided for the construction and/or acquisition of centres to house this kind of activity, and their refurbishment, enlargement or fitting-out.

Calls for projects dedicated to employment creation and promotion for people with disabilities and groups suffering inequalities and at risk of social exclusion

Some 112 projects of this kind received support from Obra Social Caja Madrid that contributed to first-time job placement and/or maintaining jobs for 3,068 persons. A total of 13,777 persons benefited directly and 44,995 indirectly.

The direct beneficiaries of this type of support are persons with physical, mental or sensorial disabilities, at risk of social exclusion (the homeless, immigrants, drug addicts), young people and women with obstacles to enter the labour market and persons facing social-employment hardship in general. The greater part of these initiatives targeted job training programmes and the creation and fitting-out of infrastructure for Special Employment Centres and Social Integration and Promotion Enterprises.

ECA Caja Madrid – Supported employment programme

The aim of the ECA project is to offer job opportunities to disabled and otherwise disadvantaged persons who have especially severe difficulties finding ordinary employment. Beneficiaries are helped to be able to live independently and lead a more normal social and working life. This is achieved by providing them with on-the-job training and mentoring during the initial period to help prevent rejection in the workplace and minimise adaptation risk.

Some 1,182 actions of this kind were carried out in 2008 by this project ,which, since its inception three years ago, has helped place 3,000 persons with disabilities and a risk of social exclusion in jobs at 1,600 Spanish companies.

Construction of targeted care centres

With the enactment of the recent Law for the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and Care for Dependent Persons, and our ongoing concern for meeting the needs of the disadvantaged in our society, Obra Social Caja Madrid's is an active partner in a programme to build purpose-specific centres to support persons suffering from disabilities and discrimination and vulnerable to social exclusion.

A notable achievement along these lines was the construction and fitting-out of a homeless shelter, with the support of the RAIS Foundation (Social-Labour Integration Support Network), and a day centre for persons with traumatic brain damage and their families, in collaboration with APANEFA (Traumatic Brain Damage Association of Madrid).

Other programmes

Obra Social Caja Madrid has supported 65 one-off projects serving a total of 1,588,702 persons, ranging from programmes to care for individuals with chronic mental illness, initiatives to promote volunteer groups, the prevention of drug addiction and providing ambulances and other medical vehicles to municipalities all over Spain. Furthermore, the 2008 edition of the Caja Madrid Social Research Awards was dedicated to exploring the causes and consequences of dependence.

Special mention should be made of the work carried on by the Solidarity Area of the La Casa Encendida cultural centre, which continues organising workshops, courses, talks, exhibitions and social awareness seminars for the general public and, above all, for persons deal with disadvantaged persons in their work or volunteer activities. These concerns were reflected, amongst others, in the “Gandhi: my life is my message” photo exhibition and roundtable, and the “34 views, lest we forget” exhibition of photographs of victims of humanitarian crises, and the “Theatre and the Disabled” series.