For ideological reasons, and as a general principle, I have always considered my participation in politics as an opportunity to fight through public responsibility for decent living conditions for the most vulnerable people and their rights, the reduction of inequalities, and the development of a more just and equitable society.
Holding a public responsibility means making decisions and setting the roadmap, planning the steps to take in building a stronger, more participatory, more supportive, more equitable society that effectively protects people with needs specific to their condition of vulnerability. All my work experience as a clinical psychologist and my time in positions of public management have led me to believe in this methodology.
When I took office almost a year ago as the councilor responsible for the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion of the Cabildo of Lanzarote and La Graciosa, my roadmap and priorities have clearly pointed towards a main goal: to protect the common interest of public services, especially those aimed at the most vulnerable population, such as dependent people in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, and at the same time restore the broken trust in the public utility entities of the so-called Third Sector.
In line with this objective, one of the first measures we adopted when we took the reins of the island government, with President Oswaldo Betancort at the helm, was to sign a transitional contractual document with non-profit entities of recognized standing that have managed public services in our two islands for decades, as a first step to offer them legal protection and restore the collaborative relationship.
These entities have historically played a very prominent and necessary role in the cooperation and management of services for dependency care, which the previous government group led by Dolores Corujo abandoned, relegating them to the most absolute precariousness, leaving hundreds of professionals, their families, and dependent people in a context of painful insecurity and ignoring the outcry of a society that took to the streets against the privatization of these services.
The Social Peace Agreement that we signed last September with AFA, Adislan, and El Cribo to restore coordination and joint work between the highest island institution and these entities, which serve nearly 300 dependent people in their immediate environment, was the prelude to the four social agreements that we presented at the Cabildo on June 5.
Endowed with a funding of 35.5 million euros for the next 7 years, these four social agreements will guarantee the management of the intellectual disability residence, the community housing program in the mental health sector, the psychosocial rehabilitation center, and the service for the promotion of personal autonomy in the elderly, in a stable manner and placing the care and attention to dependent people at the center and axis of the entire system.
And it will be so not only because the Social Agreement values the track record in the care of these vulnerable people by the entities that have historically managed public services under quality criteria and with values, empathy, and closeness in an accredited manner, but also because the Cabildo will maintain the payment of the places to the provider even if they are not occupied, thus allowing the entity to maintain the organizational structure of the services it provides.
Today, Lanzarote and La Graciosa can celebrate the fulfillment of the commitment acquired by Coalición Canaria to guarantee the provision of social services in a qualified manner in both islands and the restoration of the collaborative relationship with those entities that historically, and under the fundamental principle of subsidiarity, have acted where the Administration had not been able to reach.
A fulfillment materialized through the Social Agreement as the most suitable option to offer a stable solution tailored to the needs and peculiarities of the services for dependent people in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, protected by European regulations, and which limits the management of services exclusively to social initiative entities without profit, eliminating the competition of for-profit commercial companies.
Because, after decades of satisfactory experience, in both islands we have amply verified that the participation of the Third Sector in the Welfare System for the management of Public Services is the ideal way to protect the common interest, guaranteeing a correct management of the same, attending to the general interest and its consideration as essential services, fundamental for the most vulnerable people and groups.
I conclude by thanking the entire associative fabric of Lanzarote and La Graciosa for the selfless work they do day after day working for a more just society, and to the staff of the Area of Social Welfare and Inclusion because if we started this journey with a great desire to change the course of the previous mandate, marked by contempt for public utility entities and disagreements, the professionals of this Area remind me every day with their dedication and effort that we are on the right track.
