Podemos Lanzarote has assisted more than 100 people at its Citizen Service Point (PAC) since it was regularly launched in early December last year. In just two months and with the restrictions of the health alarm, more than a hundred people have been able to process social assistance, carry out digital procedures or receive different types of advice.
Among the services most demanded by citizens is the processing of the Minimum Basic Income (IMV), the rental aid from the Government of the Canary Islands and the request for digital signatures and keys. “The digital divide is still very large, especially in the most vulnerable families and the elderly, so administrations should put a tool like this at the service of their neighbors as the Tías City Council already did,” says Ana Nácher, island coordinator of Podemos Lanzarote and head of the Citizen Service Point (PAC).
More urgently and given the impossibility of obtaining a prior appointment at the National Institute of Social Security, the PAC is providing a tool to claim IMVs denied in the first instance. This is a document that, once completed by the affected person, can be registered in any official body such as the Cabildo or the town councils.
Currently, due to the health restrictions applied by the Government of the Canary Islands, the PAC provides its services by telephone, with face-to-face attention limited to the delivery or collection of physical documentation on an exceptional basis. “We do not want to put anyone at risk or create queues or crowds in the premises, so we give few daily appointments and prioritize telephone attention whenever possible,” Nácher clarifies.
Other services provided at the Podemos Lanzarote headquarters
Similarly, the formation provides its space for militants and volunteers to carry out specialized advice and assistance tasks. Advice on migration and immigration matters takes place every Tuesday afternoon, carried out by a lawyer and a social worker who are volunteers and militants of the Podemos Arrecife circle. The service is provided in Spanish, French and Arabic and an appointment is required.
Currently, the formation is preparing to provide other services open to citizens to “facilitate access to bureaucratic procedures, which are often complicated and inaccessible, to people who need it.”
To receive more information or request an appointment for some of the services, the purple party recommends following up on their social networks or contacting the public officials of Podemos in the different administrations.
