SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, December 10 (EUROPA PRESS) –
A total of 105 people affected by the volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma have been assisted by the Red Cross through the ‘Promoting financial health’ project, launched last January with the aim of alleviating energy poverty and improve the financial health of these people.
‘Boosting financial health’ is developed through three blocks: basic financial knowledge; adequacy of expense and income management and risk transfer; and savings methods at home to reduce current spending and deal with possible unforeseen events.
In total, 190 interventions have been carried out with these users and 12 group activities, such as social orientations, workshops aimed at improving domestic economy, on energy savings and efficiency, on the value of money, learning to differentiate whims from needs, as well as meetings groups to offer social information and delivery of informative material, in addition to providing accompaniment and visits to social resources, among others.
Regarding individual actions, the Organization has provided support to users in the bureaucratic procedures and processing of available social aid and resources. In addition, personalized savings kits have been delivered and individualized attention and guidance has been offered, with visits to homes, to verify the proper use of the savings kit delivered.
At the same time, the Red Cross Youth has worked with minors on these concepts and many others related to the economy, through a teaching tool created specifically for this purpose.
On the other hand, the Red Cross has emphasized coordination with administrations and other entities to provide a comprehensive response centered on the person, actively participating with city councils and in the Insular Energy Poverty Roundtable of the island of La Palma.
Currently the project has a volunteer team made up of 13 people who participate in various activities of administrative support, project management and coordination, driver, workshop monitor, activity facilitator and accompaniment.
‘Boosting financial health’ is presented as a pioneering resource on the island to try to mitigate problems in the family economy already established by the economic crisis and reinforced after the pandemic, the fire and the volcanic eruption.
This project is a complementary and transversal resource that the Organization offers in response to the detection of income degeneration, inadequate spending management, misinformation of financial knowledge on the part of the general population, inadequate debt levels and systems zero or insufficient savings.
This initiative adds to the portfolio of projects that the Red Cross has underway in this phase of recovery on the island of La Palma, in its commitment to continue working for the development, prosperity and for the construction of resilience of the people of La Palma, through a comprehensive response plan.
