Madrid (EFE).- The Amancio Ortega Foundation has contributed a total of 30 million euros to finance two programs of Cáritas Española and the Red Cross aimed, respectively, at facilitating access to housing for vulnerable families and alleviating loneliness in seniors through the use of voice assistants.
Together with Cáritas, the Inditex owner’s Foundation has launched the “A home, a home” initiative, aimed at alleviating the problems of social exclusion caused by access to housing for the most vulnerable families.
Within the framework of this agreement, which will be valid for 24 months, the Foundation will contribute 15 million euros that will improve the situation of some 15,000 people, especially those affected by difficulties in accessing housing.
Housing, the second factor of greatest social exclusion
In recent years, difficulties in accessing the right to housing have become, after the lack of employment, the second factor that causes the greatest social exclusion among the population served by Cáritas, according to this organization in a press release. .
In the last year, the Cáritas Confederation in Spain invested a total of 12.6 million euros in housing aid, which benefited more than 10,000 people.
In this context, Cáritas points out, the financing of the Amancio Ortega Foundation will allow us to respond to the difficulties faced by the most vulnerable families in the context of access to housing: improvements in the habitability conditions of homes , optimize energy efficiency and assume timely payment of rents and supplies.
Voice devices for 26,000 seniors
The Amancio Ortega Foundation has also collaborated with the Red Cross with the contribution of another 15 million euros so that 26,000 older people throughout Spain can have voice devices that incorporate specific applications to promote their autonomy and avoid situations of loneliness.
Thanks to the collaboration with the Amancio Ortega Foundation, an innovative program that combines humanitarian technology and volunteering can be extended to the entire national territory.
The project includes the installation of the devices and, if necessary, the online connection of the homes. In addition, the Red Cross volunteer network plays a key role in accompanying and training the elderly.
The three-year program has a budget of around 15 million euros, which is covered entirely by the Amancio Ortega Foundation.
The unwanted loneliness and social isolation of the elderly, a group that mostly suffers from the ‘digital divide’, is on its way to becoming a growing problem in Spanish society, due to its demographic evolution.
According to INE projections, in 2050 those over 65 will account for 31.4% of the population, compared to the current 19.6%.
Given the situation, and in the context of the greater isolation caused by the pandemic, the Red Cross launched this pilot program, between August 2020 and March 2021, on the use of voice assistants in the elderly, for functions such as contact with their relatives, physical exercise or their own relationship with volunteering at the humanitarian organization.
This study demonstrated a substantial improvement in the autonomy of the elderly people cared for. In addition, the impact of physical deterioration, loneliness and isolation suffered by them was mitigated, their socialization was increased and the work overload of their potential caregivers was reduced.