Ibiza has a large number of people which are in or at risk of facing social exclusion. The rate of households without an income or of people which face long-term unemployment remains the same despite the island’s economic growth. One must also take into account the increase in the price of apartment and room rentals, which are almost impossible to access for a growing number of residents—leading even doctors and teachers to leave the island.

Given the context of social vulnerability and poverty, our main objective is to promote social inclusion by meeting the basic, urgent, and punctual needs of people to guarantee their health, wellness, and quality of life in a holistic and comprehensive way.

We want to create opportunities for our participants to be able to be part in contributing and raising awareness among the community that often rejects or don’t realise the realities of socially excluded communities.

The main objective of the Day Centre programme organised by Caritas Diocesana of Ibiza and Formentera is to attend all homeless and marginalised people with a significant social uprooting, offering a space where each of these individuals has the possibility of starting comprehensive care programmes of personal, family, or social recovery, or employability, as a first step for them to begin being able to get their lives back on track.

A particularly worrying issue is the fact that many participants (almost 30%), face mental health problems most of them exacerbated by the fact of not being diagnosed.

Framed within this project we find the pre-workshops training, which targets those whom have decided to start an individualised process for their job re-insertion as given their condition they can’t access another type of insertion programme. The pre-workshop participants receive a monthly 100€ employability grant, which is aimed at fostering motivation, self-esteem, and a progressive improvement in their quality of life.

As well as this grant they receive other financial incentives for health, transport, etc. We work with them on social skills and self-knowledge. We strengthen reading and writing, memory, and concentration. We carry out activities which help them recover and improve their psychomotor and manual abilities. We promote team work and discipline (such as with time-tables), etc. This pre-workshop means for many the beginning of a new path towards social inclusion which leads to the inclusion in the labour market. From here the participants are derived to other Caritas programmes, such as “A tot drap”, which many begin once the social workers consider they’re ready to take this next step in the re-insertion process. “Can Pep Xico” is another workshop where they learn ecological agriculture and gardening.

For the participants: create opportunities that increase the self-esteem, participation, inclusion, and empowerment of each participant.

For society: break barriers, question our preconceptions, and transmit a positive perspective of the beneficiaries of our programmes, bringing to light their potencial and creativity. Help bridge the gaps and get to kn0w the realities of those that are facing social exclusion.