Social Action in Rural Areas: Addressing the Demographic challenge to Stop Depopulation (Spain)

The ”La Caixa” Foundation is inviting proposals to collaborate with initiatives that address depopulation and its effects, and promote social action in rural areas, with medium and long-term strategies and dynamics of cooperation and creation of synergies.

Priorities

• The call aims to contribute to stopping depopulation and seeks to promote the maintenance and revitalization of institutional and social ecosystems in rural areas , supporting local initiatives that address the complexity and multidimensionality of these areas. Priority will be given to :
  • Actions that consider the empowerment of young people and women.
  • Transformative projects aimed at enhancing the social, economic and cultural value of the territory’s resources.
  • Initiatives that include digital inclusion as a cross-cutting element.
• This call for proposals may include, among others, projects that fall within the following areas: social and labour integration and support for entrepreneurship, poverty and social inclusion, support for health and well-being, and community participation and social cohesion.

Areas of Action

• The call is specifically aimed at 67 areas of action made up of municipalities organized around a functional municipality, distributed across the 17 autonomous communities.
• These functional municipalities are generally characterized by having between 10,000 and 25,000 inhabitants and are considered key centers to stop depopulation , since they have an institutional and social ecosystem capable of promoting initiatives that generate a driving effect in their environment.

Funding Information

• A grant per project of up to €100,000
• A 3-year execution period
  • The objective of establishing a 3-year implementation period is to facilitate and promote projects adapted to the reality of each area of ​​action with the participation and collaboration of key agents in each territory, with a medium-term vision of the viability of the project.

Eligibility Criteria

• The entities that may present themselves as promoters are:
  • Non-profit organizations.
  • Entities of the social economy that, whether or not they are for-profit, explicitly include social cohesion or social interest as one of their main objectives among the purposes indicated in their statutes.
• The requirements for the promoting entities will be:
  • Be accredited in the Call for Proposals Application and designate a person as project manager.
  • Be domiciled in the autonomous community in which the functional municipality of the area of ​​action is located.
  • Be registered in the corresponding Administrative Registry.
  • Have your own NIF.
  • Have registered statutes and a minimum of one year of activity since its incorporation, as of the closing date of the call.
  • Have sufficient structure and capacity to ensure the achievement of objectives, demonstrating operational experience.
• In the case of branches of a parent entity, those that may be presented independently, provided they prove their formal, functional and organic autonomy, may:
  • They must be recognised by the parent entity and have been operating as a delegation for at least one year as of the closing date of the call for applications.
  • They operate autonomously from the parent entity, with their own structure and governing body.
  • Have their own budget, separate from that of the parent company.
  • Have a certificate issued by an official public body stating the registered office of the branch.

For more information, visit ”La Caixa” Foundation.