What specific measures will SOC implement to address the crisis generated by Covid-19?
Regarding SOC, and by extension the Department of Business and Labour, it should be remembered that President Aragonès announced a few weeks ago a record investment of 917 million euros this year for active employment policies. This is the highest investment in history to stimulate the labour market and represents a 72% increase compared to 2020.
Therefore, our commitment in this area is clear, and we expect to benefit half a million people, with special attention to the most vulnerable and those facing difficulties in accessing the labour market, such as women, young people, or individuals over 45 years old. As an example, I can mention specific actions such as aid starting from 5,000 euros per company for one year of hiring and maintaining employment for a young person; or aid to boost the hiring of up to 25,000 unemployed individuals over 45 years old.
And the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia?
From the Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia, it has also been considered that the current scenario necessitates upskilling workers to improve their competencies. In this regard, it is planned to train more than 250,000 employed individuals in the programs and initiatives promoted by the CFCC during the 2021 call (to be executed between 2021 and 2022).
Regarding the accreditation of competencies based on professional experience, the Public Agency for Training and Professional Qualification of Catalonia has planned a Shock Plan for the accreditation of 6,000 workers in Catalonia during this year 2021, according to places announced so far, with this figure being expandable.
The objective is to overcome the impact of Covid-19 on the labour market, recover jobs lost due to the pandemic as soon as possible, improve the training of sectors with greater difficulties in accessing the labour world, and strengthen those undergoing a complete reconversion.
Youth unemployment has soared; what specific measures does SOC foresee?
In Catalonia, there are 165,000 unemployed young people, of whom 100,000 are under 25 and 36,500 have never worked before. These data indicate the crucial importance of a first work relationship because it is evident that the main barrier for young people entering the labour market is previous professional experience.
For this reason, this year we are making a very significant commitment to fostering youth employment, allocating more than 150 million to hiring aid (largely from REACT funds).
Beyond this, we also maintain and promote actions more specifically aimed at young people without qualifications or with non-professionalized training. In this sense, we are committed to Dual Vocational Training alongside other programs such as New Opportunities or
Singulars to develop projects that facilitate the reconciliation of young people with learning or offer them a successful career path.
What measures do SOC and the Consortium promote to foster self-employment and offer support to entrepreneurs?
The Consortium for Continuous Training of Catalonia offers training specialities in entrepreneurship and self-employment within its training programs for employed individuals.
We have also recently approved the bases for mixed programs of guidance and vocational training for employment for workers affected by an ERTO as a consequence of the crisis derived from Covid-19. These programs aim to provide tools for entrepreneurship and self-employment and are directed at a minimum of approximately 12,500 people.
How do you assess the digital adaptation of employment training delivery during 2020? What is your future strategy for the digital transformation of the sector?
From the very beginning, the fluid collaboration and communication between SOC and the training centres allowed for immediate adaptation to the new context. We can say that in our case, virtual training is consolidated as an alternative to in-person training, and this opens up new scenarios for participation in low-density territories or for specific groups.
The future strategy involves offering and sharing digital solutions that facilitate connection and learning, consolidating tele-training, and providing training and knowledge exchange to maximize the performance of new modalities, technologies, and training tools.
It is crucial to keep in mind the eminently practical nature of our training. The good news is that the experience gained during this pandemic has, in an irreversible and surprisingly rapid way, broken the “distrust” towards non-presential learning resources and modalities. Thus, in just a few months, it has provided us with a great deal of knowledge and many good practices that, in a “normal” context, would likely have taken a long time to introduce into the training system.
What are the plans to adapt active employment policies to the needs of each territory? What role will the different public and private actors play?
One of the challenges is to develop the new institutional framework for planning and implementing active employment policies through territorial coordination. We want to facilitate the integration, coordination, and territorial embedding of the actions foreseen in the Employment Policy Development Plan and the Catalan Employment Strategy.
Regarding the role of public and private agents in this process, we are currently planning and developing the implementation of territorial coordination, which should allow us to redefine the strategic and governance model and create a new bottom-up management model with autonomy for territories to design their own programs and services. It will be necessary to integrate the visions of local administrations, the most representative trade unions and business organizations, and other relevant institutional agents rooted in the territories.
On a personal level, how have you experienced the responsibility of simultaneously leading SOC and the Consortium, considering this pandemic year?
With uncertainty, apprehension, respect, doubts… Everything was so exceptional that it was difficult to maintain a sense of calm and have enough perspective to guarantee what I always knew needed to be preserved: the care and rights of citizens, and at the same time, the health and safety of all the people who work at SOC.
Throughout this time, we have made many decisions without any prior reference or knowledge on how to act in such situations. But I believe that, ultimately, together and especially thanks to the effort of all the professionals working here, we have done so quickly, professionally, and I sincerely believe we have overcome this challenge with flying colours.
Autoocupació’s motto is ‘I am what I want to be.’ And you, are you?
Yes. I am what I want to be, both personally and professionally. And ‘what I want to be’ I have built over time with maturity, adapting and managing experiences. I think that if you manage to be the person you want to be, it is easier for life to take you where you want to go.
You have to build your path, your life plan, and work to make it your reality. You have to pursue the dream. Gandhi said that at first they seem impossible, then improbable, and finally, when we commit, they become inevitable. I have always committed to my dreams, my goals, and now I can say that I am what I want to be.
