The new grant call for third sector entities launched by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Equality, Youth, Children and Families, through the General Directorate of Social Services and Immigration, with a budget of 6.8 million euros for this year 2025, can already be found in the Official Gazette of the Canary Islands.
These grants are intended to support social initiatives aimed at assisting migrants, including groups in vulnerable situations, improving coexistence in neighborhoods and communities, as well as providing comprehensive care for homeless people.
In addition, this call includes a new line of stable funding for family units benefiting from the Canarian Citizen Income (RCC), with the aim of guaranteeing the continuity of support and promoting the economic autonomy of these households. Entities have until September 5 to submit their proposals through the Electronic Headquarters.
The General Director of Social Services and Immigration, Elisabet Santana, has highlighted that, despite the general reduction in the budget allocated to grants, a "great effort" has been made to maintain the financing of the third sector in the field of social services. "Our commitment is to consolidate, at least, this level of resources in the coming years," emphasizes Santana, who stresses the importance of the social fabric as a fundamental ally in the care of the most vulnerable groups in the Archipelago.
In this sense, she points out that this type of call contributes to reinforcing the coordinated work between the public administration and social entities, which results in a better response to the real needs of citizens. "Collaboration with social organizations allows us to go further, with greater agility and proximity," she says.
The head of the area also highlights the vocation for continuous improvement in aid management processes. In this sense, a new digital processing system has been implemented, developed by the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands (ITC), which will facilitate the submission of applications by interested entities, reducing times and simplifying administrative procedures. And at the end of last month, the General Directorate explained to these groups the novelties of the call and the operation of this digital processing.
The call, which will remain open for 15 business days from August 13, establishes evaluation criteria that prioritize social impact, innovation in community intervention, the gender perspective and the sustainability of projects.
With this package of aid, the area not only seeks to address situations of social emergency, but also to promote lasting and transformative inclusion processes in local environments.
The grants will allow to assist households living below the poverty line; with severe material and social deprivation; relative lack of goods, resources or services.
It will also allow the development of intervention programs for social inclusion and care for people in situations of social exclusion and, for example, promote programs that guarantee non-discriminatory access to the practice of physical-sports activities, leisure and active community participation, which serve to achieve a process of social and integral inclusion or the implementation of digital literacy programs to improve digital skills and promote personal development.
Reinforcement in municipalities and rural areas will also be addressed, especially those with a high dispersion of population, programs and services that facilitate access to resources, proximity, support and social support for people or groups in situations of greater social disadvantage who, due to their personal and socioeconomic and environmental circumstances, may lead to social exclusion or risk of poverty.
Programs of actions aimed at intervention in homelessness may also be financed, favoring a comprehensive intervention, guaranteeing the attention and coverage of basic needs and measures for social inclusion through housing, social benefits and/or employment; as well as the implementation or maintenance of short-stay and transitional accommodation resources for people receiving RCC, IMV, or other income from the public social protection system who, in addition, are in a situation of urgency or high social exclusion.