- Afedes, Atelsam, Aspercan, Funcasor and Amate were the winning organizations in the latest edition
- This year's awards emphasized helping people affected by the pandemic
The event led by the director of Cepsa Canary Islands, José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo, and the ombudsman and chair of the jury, Rafael Yanes, was also attended by other members of the jury, such as the counselor for Social Policy and Accessibility of Gran Canaria’s City Council, Isabel Mena, and the head of the Tenerife Solidario program, Beatriz Sicilia, as well as the head of Fundación Cepsa in the Canary Islands, Belén Machado.
The top representatives of the five award-winning non-profits were also connected to the virtual meeting: the Association for the Promotion of Training, Employment, Information and Development of the North (Afedes); the Asperger Association of the Canary Islands (Aspercan); the Tenerife Breast Cancer Association (Amate); the Mental Health Association (Atelsam); and the Canary Islands Foundation for People with Deafness and their Families (Funcasor).
The chairs of Afedes, Amate and Funcasor, Catalina de Lorenzo, María del Carmen Bonfante and Isabel Gómez, respectively, as well as the managing director of Atelsam, Ana Concepción Cáceres, discussed their initiatives and were joined by Aspercan specialist Ana Rodríguez.
The meeting was also attended by the five Cepsa professionals who acted as sponsors of the winning projects, endorsing these initiatives for Fundación Cepsa: Juan Carlos Díez (Afedes), Victoria Rodríguez (Aspercan), Cristina Martín-Carbajal (Amate), Fernando Hernández (Atelsam) and Luis Barrios (Funcasor).
José Manuel Fernández-Sabugo stated that the Social Value Awards represent Fundación Cepsa's recognition of NGOs commitment to the most disadvantaged groups and that, in a year like last year, they have been bolstered with an increase in the award amount.
He highlighted the "great quality of the 79 projects that participated this year" and added that "it was incredibly difficult to choose the winners." He also emphasized the sensitivity, standards, professionalism and dedication shown by the jury.
He underscored that the awards "maintain a component of community outreach at the company with the figure of the sponsor, which allows Cepsa professionals to get closer to the organizations and helps make society more inclusive."
For his part, Rafael Yanes congratulated Fundación Cepsa's decision to increase the monetary award given at this edition of the Social Value Awards by 25%, "in such a tough year in which already vulnerable groups have become even more vulnerable."
He explained that as the ombudsman, his work focuses on defending people’s fundamental rights, the first of which is to ensure that they are not discriminated against. He added that non-profits play a key role in this regard, carrying out functions that the government alone cannot. For this reason, he added, the awards are an important incentive.
Isabel Mena also valued the role of the Awards in enabling social entities to grow and help particularly vulnerable groups, an aspect that has become even more important as a result of the current health and social crisis.
In this sense, she thanked Fundación Cepsa for its "commitment to keeping the awards alive, increasing the amount, helping keep the social fabric of the Canary Islands alive and covering what public agencies cannot".
Winning projects
The Afedes Association will implement the “AFEDES by your side” project aimed at assisting and improving the quality of life of 20 families in municipalities in the north of Tenerife who are vulnerable as a result of the current pandemic. The focus is on empowerment workshops and strengthening their support networks. Focused especially on minors, young people, women with serious social problems, immigrants, people with great difficulties covering their basic needs, unemployed people over 45 and people facing long-term unemployment, it aims to cover their basic needs, bridge the digital divide through computer literacy workshops for adults and minors and increase school success with tutoring.
The Asperger Association of the Canary Islands (Aspercan) will undertake an innovative project aimed at promoting the empowerment of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger Syndrome. The project “ReseTEA: Activism and autistic self-representation” will promote and encourage the real inclusion of people with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Asperger Syndrome in any developmental environment. Furthermore, it aims to standardize, make visible and demystify prejudices about people with the disorders, by providing direct knowledge in the form of guides for teachers in the Canary Islands and the business network in the Archipelago, as well as talks and training at educational centers and companies.
With the “Health Education” project, the Breast Cancer Association of Tenerife (Amate) aims to provide one of the fundamental pillars in the care and attention for people affected by breast cancer: information and education services. With this project, information, training and counseling services, one of the fundamental pillars in the care of people affected by breast cancer, will reach El Hierro and La Gomera for the first time, while at the same time reinforcing its scope of action throughout the province. Talks and workshops on early detection of breast cancer and COVID-19 and at-risk individuals, among others, are some of the activities conducted for this end.
The project “Finca Isora: Prepara y Emplea” (Isora Ranch: Prepare and Employ) of the Mental Health Association (Atelsam) stands as an agent of change in the working world of people with severe mental disorders. With organic farming and a poultry farm, it will enhance the professional capacities and skills inherent to this work, providing them with training in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly occupation, to contribute to the rehabilitation of these people and promote, with this job preparation, their socio-labor integration. Atelsam will add a job coach to the team of the Isora Occupational Training Center in order to continue finding job placements for users.
The Canary Islands Foundation for People with Deafness and their Families (Funcasor) will bring its speech therapy service for people with hearing impairments to Gran Canaria for the first time. In addition to hearing rehabilitation, conducted by speech therapists specializing in auditory-verbal therapy, the care will focus on the family, boosting their training on how to create a listening environment, use verbal language processing, and encourage speech expression.
The five award-winning projects in the 2020 edition will be added to the list of the other 50 that have been selected by the Fundación Cepsa Social Value Awards since its launch in the Canary Islands thirteen years ago. A total of 495,000 euros have been allocated to the awards over the years, aimed at combating social inequality, promoting inclusion and improving the well-being of the most disadvantaged. These awards reaffirm Cepsa and Fundación Cepsa’s continuous social commitment to its community.