The succession of economic and social crises is leading citizens "to increasingly complex situations of social exclusion". The loss of the protective function of work, the rising cost of housing or the administrative irregularity suffered by many migrants prevents a large part of the population from achieving decent living conditions.
This is confirmed in the Confederal Report of CaritasThe official confederation of charitable and social action entities of the Catholic Church, which was presented this Wednesday in Madrid by its president, Manuel Bretón, and the secretary general, Natalia Peirowho reported on the work carried out by Caritas in 2023.
Last year, Caritas invested a record 486.5 million euros - 29.3 million euros (6.4 %) more than the previous year - in its various resources and projects within Spain and in international cooperation actions in third countries.
Return to pre-pandemic levels and applicant exhaustion
Thanks to these available resources, Caritas managed to support 2,567,680 people inside and outside our borders. Of these, 1,327,298 within Spain and 1,240,382 in International Cooperation. The data in the Report reflect that the number of people assisted in our country returned to similar levels of 2019, the year before the pandemic (1,403,299).
"In 2023 we have found in our shelter services and other resources that the people who come to us have increasing difficulties in accessing their rights. They are people with an accumulation of needs, with a feeling of exhaustion and wear and tear due to the continuous effort in the search for how to resolve these basic needs," explained Natalia Peiro during the presentation of the balance of activities.
80 percent of the aid, for basic needs
Over the past year, one out of every three people served was in an irregular administrative situation, while 50 % were working poor or had serious difficulties in accessing or maintaining their housing.
In the Shelter and Assistance programs, 80 percent of the aid requested by families was related to payments for supplies, rent, i.e. basic needs. "The improvement in the activity rate and the decrease in unemployment throughout 2023 has not translated into an increase in the quality of employment, especially for people in a situation of social exclusion. With a rate of 11.9%, Spain continues to be one of the EU countries with the highest in-work poverty rate due to partiality, low wages and temporality," said Natalia Peiro.
The reality of exclusion and poverty experienced by the people who come to Caritas, according to those responsible, is not cyclical or, therefore, associated with a specific crisis, "but structural and generated by social and economic developments, as well as by policies over decades". The complex situation of people requires longer periods of accompaniment. In the case of people in an irregular administrative situation, this process can last on average between one and two years. "These data show that we need more complex, longer and more expensive accompaniment processes," Peiro stressed.
More funds for employment
As employment is one of the main factors of integration, Caritas once again increased the funds invested in Solidarity Economy programs. With a total allocation of 136.8 million euros (21.3 million more than the previous year), the financial effort made on social and labor insertion itineraries and insertion companies once again exceeded the programs of Shelter and Assistance (96.7 million euros). With these resources, 4.9 % more job seekers were served than in 2022.
"In our day-to-day lives we come across many people making great efforts to better themselves, to learn, to acquire new skills, to overcome the digital divide and to face their fears and the multitude of obstacles they encounter along the way. However, on many occasions, this is not enough to achieve a decent job. This is because our socioeconomic system, based on economic profitability, accumulation, individualism, competition and excessive consumption, continues to lead us to growing inequality, increasing job insecurity and environmental degradation, incompatible with social justice and equal access to rights," said Natalia Peiro.
The other programs that used the most resources last year were those for the elderly (42.9 million), the homeless (41.3 million), and family, children and youth (28.5 million), to name the most relevant.
Humanitarian emergencies outside Spain
Responding to the humanitarian needs of thousands of people outside our borders has also been one of the main tasks of Caritas throughout 2023. The different International Cooperation projects had a total investment of 25.2 million euros and assisted 1,240,382 people.
Within humanitarian action, the work carried out in Morocco, Turkey and Syria following the emergency caused by the earthquakes that affected the three countries, the support in the Holy Land, as well as the continuity of the work carried out in Ukraine, stand out above all. All this without forgetting the situation in other countries with forgotten crises such as Mozambique, Ethiopia or Lebanon.
The significant financial effort (some 29.3 million more than in 2022) made by Caritas last year was possible thanks to the generous support of thousands of partners, donors and private collaborators, who contributed more than 327 million, 6.9% more than the previous year. "We value the commitment of more than 230,000 donors and partners who collaborate with us in the task of building a more just world," said the secretary general.
In addition, the efforts of the various public administrations, which contributed a total of 159.4 million euros to Caritas programs, are also noteworthy. Our overall balance of income this year was 67.22% from private sources and 32.78% from public administrations.
Maximum austerity with less means
Even though in the last two years all the Caritas organizations have put into play a significant increase in economic resources due to the impact of the inflationary crisis, it has been possible to maintain the austerity objective in the area of Management and Administration. It has even dropped to 5.72 %.
In other words, out of every 100 euros invested in actions to fight poverty, only 5.7 euros have been allocated to management costs. "We have been at this percentage of management expenses for 20 years," emphasized Natalia Peiro. The Report also includes data on the people behind all this confederal activity, sustained thanks to 71,437 volunteers and 5,871 contracted workers.
Adding wills
During the presentation of the balance of activities, the president of Caritas Española called on the whole of society to "join forces to turn the work in favor of the invisible and discarded into a meeting place and a space for harmony, in these times of worrying social polarization and worsening living conditions for many people, who see how their access to basic rights continues to be very precarious".
In his speech, Manuel Bretón took the opportunity to thank the "tireless support" of companies, individual donors, public administrations and thousands of volunteers "in the task of guaranteeing the dignity of all people, the protection of human rights and the commitment to social justice". "There are many hands that come together to advance this task. Therefore, I would like to thank, on my own behalf and on behalf of Caritas Española, this sum of commitments and solidarity that weave a network of support without which we would not have been able to accompany more than two and a half million people inside and outside our country in 2023."
