Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Presentation in the Spanish Congress of the results of the pilot project "Educational and social accompaniment for families in situations of exclusion" [editar]

• Acción Institucional
• National level

Sara Giménez, director general of Fundación Secretariado Roma appeared today at the Social Economy, Inclusion, Social Security and Migrations working committee of the Spanish Congress to present the results of the pilot project "Educational and social accompaniment for families in situations of exclusion" carried out between 2022 and 2024. This project is part of the Inclusion Policies Laboratory and is financed by the European Social Fund, through the Next Generation funds, and the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, and has been supported by Cenmfi and J-Pal.

According to Sara Giménez, during her presentation, "the aim of the project has been to generate scientific evidence to show that, by implementing comprehensive and intensive activation measures, it is possible to reverse and put an end to the generational inheritance of poverty". In addition, she pointed out that "by investing in educational guidance and school reinforcement, with social support for families and training in digital skills, we can improve the educational success opportunities of students from families in a situation of serious vulnerability, such as those receiving Minimum Income (MI) or regional incomes". Given the scientific evidence of this improvement, she called for "scaling up these pilot projects in public policies". She also took advantage to recall that the Child Guarantee funds are resources specifically aimed at investing in the most vulnerable minors and reducing child poverty, and she called for exhaustive monitoring of their effectiveness and impact on priority groups, such as Roma children.

Scientific evidence against poverty

The Roma community in Spain still has figures that point to high levels of poverty and social exclusion: 92% of Roma people are at risk of poverty according to the AROPE rate; 46% of Roma households are in extreme poverty; the child poverty rate stands at 89% and 8.6% of the Roma population lives in substandard housing. These data, together with the serious situation of inequality among Roma students, highlight the need for public policy responses to ensure equal opportunities for the Roma population.

With a sample of 399 families, this pilot project has been developed in seven Spanish cities. Using a scientific methodology based on RCT (Randomised Control Trials), it has been shown that children from vulnerable families, when they participate in educational pathways, i.e. receive school guidance and reinforcement, improve their academic performance and skills by 40% more than children who do not participate in pathways, and 18% more successfully complete the course and improve their expectations regarding their studies.

Research has also shown how social protection for families improves when they receive social support. When they are informed about available resources, their family economy and domestic organisation improves. The social protection index increased by 8%.

Finally, the project has observed an increase in digital skills when connectivity has been promoted in Roma households and support has been provided for its use.

The situation of families receiving the IM was compared and it was shown that in a very short time, the lives of those with specialised and intensive support improved.