After a year and six months of a health pandemic with major social consequences, and in the midst of a migration crisis, our third sector continues to work.
NGOs that in recent years have seen their resources dwindle, and that even before the pandemic have had to survive with many difficulties without subsidies, economic funds and human resources. For Lanzarote, our third sector was never a priority.
2020 arrives and Covid-19, and our NGOs, from the largest to the smallest, have been able to respond to social and health situations with urgency. Meanwhile, public administrations have remained submerged in bureaucracy that delays rapid action.
A large number of volunteers are involved in social groups who, after doing their paid work, put on their second uniform and perform the service that is necessary, from giving food to taking medicines to the home in quarantine situations. Because these NGOs, which were never important to Lanzarote, have been the ones that have sustained the urgent care burden and the social emergencies of the people who needed it. And although they have not reached all the people, they have always tried to give a response as immediate as possible even at the cost of many hours of work and effort.
Because when our public administrations had to be the first to put the resources and means to cover the socio-health needs of the population, they have not known or have not been able to do so. And now, unfortunately, our third sector does seem important. Now we do recognize their work, but until when?
I believe that we need a third sector properly funded and not weakened by neglect and money saving. Where the public administration and family members do not reach, NGOs reach. We need the third sector to be not only recognized, but valued and strengthened.
To this end, the Canary Islands must join the state agreement of the Third Sector once and for all so that NGOs can carry out their activities without fear of closure.
By Daisy Villalba, social worker and member of Nueva Canarias in Lanzarote.