A total of four associations have stated that it is “impossible to carry out” and endangers the “sustainability” of the sector.
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Feb. 14 (EUROPA PRESS) –
Several disability organizations in the Canary Islands have collectively returned the subsidies from the Supported Employment Plan. These were granted by the Department of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Canary Islands Employment Service (SCE), at the beginning of this year. This decision was made as a group in response to their dissatisfaction with the conditions not being suitable for the needs and realities of people with disabilities, making them “impossible to execute” and putting the sector’s sustainability at risk.
The social entities AFES Salud Mental, Asociación ADEPSI, the Asociación Salud Mental AFESUR and the Asociación Salud Mental Atelsam have jointly relinquished a total of 328,620 euros in aid. This decision was motivated by the Employment Commission of CERMI Canarias, an organization representing the disability sector in the islands, due to “extremely tight deadlines” for submission that “hinder the development of projects adapted to this group’s circumstances.”
The inclusion of “unworkable content for the entities” and overly strict deadlines has led many organizations to forgo applying for subsidies, as detailed in a joint statement.
As a result, out of the initially planned three million euros for disability employment, with a specific allocation of 1.5 million for mental health, only 566,972.68 euros were ultimately executed in the two categories of Supported Employment and Awareness Raising and Visibility. This amounts to barely 19% of the total.
CERMI Canarias has remarked that “many opportunities have been lost for the social and labor inclusion of individuals facing the greatest difficulties.”
It should be noted that this was the first time the regional government introduced a specific employment call for disability and mental health, a longstanding demand from the entities and particularly from the Canary Islands Mental Health Federation.
Therefore, numerous meetings were held in 2023 and substantial contributions were submitted to collaboratively create with the Canarian Employment Service “a groundbreaking call that would support the promotion of employment projects and tailored itineraries developed by the entities to meet the needs of people with disabilities.”
However, it appears that the experience and best practices of organizations have ultimately not been taken into account.
COUNSELOR’S SILENCE
Furthermore, the organizations also criticize the councilor, Jéssica de León, for her silence in response to repeated meeting requests from the affected organizations, with the aim of finding a solution, preventing the return of subsidies, and being able to maintain crucial projects for individuals facing the greatest employment challenges.
The CERMI Canary Islands Employment Commission is hopeful that it will still be possible to hold this meeting, as this is a “critical issue for the labor integration of people with disabilities and/or mental health problems in the Canary Islands, where the worst unemployment rates in the entire country persist year after year.”
According to them, the need for employment calls for the disability group, specifically mentioning mental health, is crucial but should be tailored to the precise needs of the groups and be supported by the extensive experience of the entities in socio-labor support.
The CERMI Employment Commission urges the Department of Tourism and Employment of the Government of the Canary Islands to “establish an urgent joint workspace” after submitting the proposal again recently, to provide quality responses that decisively promote the employment of people with disabilities.”
