The Council It plans to pay the Island Councils this month the 6.6 million euros earmarked for social emergency aid. Pedro Martin, insular president, points out that these contributions “will not only allow municipalities to meet the basic needs of those who need this social support, but also strengthen the staff to manage and deliver these grants with the agility that is required.” This amount will serve to empower municipal social services to alleviate situations of vulnerability and social emergency derived from the pandemic of the Covid-19, which has increased the needs in this area.
Pedro Martín, emphasizes that this economic injection will allow to better meet the basic needs of those who need them and the idea is to be able to reach more people ”. But also, he values, “it will serve to reinforce municipal personnel and administrative structures with a view to managing and delivering these grants with the agility that is required.”
Martín indicates that with this initiative “Which includes all municipalities and until the arrival of the current government team did not exist”, the Cabildo reinforces its “support to the municipalities in attending to the most basic things that families require, such as food and other essential products for personal hygiene, self-protection material, clothing or pharmacy.” To these 6.6 million euros that are already in progress, “Add the 3.8 million that we already made effective for the same purpose last year”, says Pedro Martín.
“Involvement and effort”
For her part, the president of the Canarian Federation of Municipalities (Fecam), Mari Brito, appreciates the “involvement and continuous effort” of the Cabildo with local corporations. Brito assesses: “” This initiative represents a commitment to the local sphere at a time when the municipalities have met the needs derived from the Covid with their own resources. ” And he concludes with a reflection: “The contribution will help us to alleviate supervening situations that undoubtedly transcend the municipalities themselves.”
“This injection will improve staff and administrative structures”
The Councilor for Social Action of the Cabildo, Marián Franquet, recalls that “these subsidies have been and are fundamental to alleviate the emergency situations that the health crisis has generated from the local context.”
“It is a commitment to the local sphere at a time of special difficulty”
Franquet explains that the aid will make it possible to allocate one million euros to the new prepaid social cards, and another two million to recharge new cards or any other that each council previously had available. Of the remaining 3.6 million, 20% will go to the administrative staff expenses of each consistory and 80% will be aimed at granting direct aid. The counselor emphasizes that the possibility of reinforcing the municipal social care staff and administrative structures “is extremely important, since, in general, local administrations have been overwhelmed by the large increase in demand as a result of the effects of the pandemic ».
Finally, Franquet highlights the role of third sector entities, thanks to which “we can carry out concrete actions, directly related to each vulnerable group of all municipalities, attending to the specific needs of each of its members.”
