The extraordinary plenary session of the Cabildo of Lanzarote has definitively approved this Wednesday the Regulations of the Island Council of the Third Sector of Social Action of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, which allows the official constitution of this new body of participation, consultation and advice on public policies of welfare and social inclusion.
This Council is configured as a meeting and permanent dialogue space between the Cabildo and the social entities that work with the most vulnerable groups of the Chinijo archipelago, with the aim of promoting a coordinated, participatory and effective social action policy.
The president of the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Oswaldo Betancort, has valued this definitive approval as "a firm step towards a more open, participatory and committed administration with those who need it most." Betancort also wanted to thank the work of the almost 70 entities in the social field registered on the island, recognizing that "the true engine of social change are the people and associations that work day by day to improve the lives of others."
The Council will be attached to the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo and will have among its functions to represent the interests of the most vulnerable groups, propose social policy measures, strengthen social cohesion, channel citizen initiatives and monitor the management of social services. In this sense, the Minister of Social Welfare, Marci Acuña, said that "the creation of this Council responds to a real need of the associative fabric of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, which has been working tirelessly for years for inclusion and social justice."
"This initiative," Acuña pointed out, "also responds to the European recognition of the Third Sector of Social Action as a strategic actor in social and economic development, especially for its ability to detect and address complex social realities and its complementary role to public management."
After the public exposure period of the Regulations, the document has been definitively approved. The Council is expected to be officially constituted during the next month of September and will be composed of seven groups representing the 67 associations of the Third Sector of the island, as well as representatives of all political groups of the Cabildo, the Departments of Social Services of the seven municipalities and the island coordinator of the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion.
