Today, the Naturgy Foundation, Cáritas Diocesana de Santiago – Interparroquial A Coruña, the National Association of Renovation and Rehabilitation Companies (ANERR) and the Ecology and Development Foundation (ECODES) signed a partnership agreement to develop a training project for unemployed people to show them about energy efficiency and how to save money in the home.
This took place this morning in the Cáritas Violetas Training Centre in A Coruña. It was attended by the Director of Cáritas Interparroquial, Pila Farjas, the General Delegate of Naturgy in Galicia, Manuel Fernández Pellicer, the Sustainable Cities Area Director of ECODES, Cecilia Foronda, and the Chairman of ANERR, Fernando Prieto.
The training event is aimed at unemployed people, preferably with previous experience in the construction industry and contains 200 hours of practical and theoretical activities. The aim of the project is to generate a new professional profile to help vulnerable homes that combines multi-disciplinary knowledge of energy rehabilitation, optimisation of energy contracts and training in efficient consumption habits.
When the training has been completed, the participants will have the opportunity to put their acquired knowledge into practice in vulnerable homes selected by Cáritas. Here they will be able to apply the contract optimisation, energy rehabilitation and recommended habits measures that they have learnt throughout the course.
All of the students will be hired by companies associated with ANERR for up to one month and at least 30% of the students who finish the course completely will be hired full-time for a minimum of five months, according to the construction sector agreement.
Other projects fighting against energy poverty
Last July, Cáritas Española and the Naturgy Foundation signed a partnership agreement to advise on the energy consumption of vulnerable consumers or families with low incomes. Both organisations arranged energy training workshops (supported by the Foundation’s Energy School) where the stakeholders received advise about energy poverty and practical advice to optimise their energy bill, such as information about the process for subsidised rate application. These sessions, which took place in the Violetas Centre, were led by Cáritas stakeholders, technicians and volunteers from the Cáritas Parishes housing groups.
In 2017, during the first year of the agreement, both organisations attended to more than 7,000 people in vulnerable situations to offer them advice on the responsible use of energy and adapting energy consumption in their homes. In addition, the Cáritas services provide information and advice about the electric subsidised rate (according to the contracted company) and Electric Ticket.
Cáritas in A Coruña is also developing the “Save Energy in your Home” project to improve the quality of life, wellbeing and health of families affected by energy vulnerability. A total of 15 family units have benefited from this project: improvements in electrical installations in the properties, repairs, purchasing heating systems, changing to low consumption light bulbs, purchasing insulation and locks for windows and doors.
The 36 Cáritas parishes and Cáritas Interparroquial in A Coruña have assigned more than €64,000 to help families without resources who cannot access the services and governmental assistance, or pay their electricity bills in 2017. This shows the importance of working together to reduce energy poverty.
Caritas
The aim of Caritas Española is to carry out charitable and social actions on behalf of the Catholic Church in Spain, through the Christian community, in order to promote and coordinate Christian communication of goods in all their forms, and to help the human promotion and holistic development of all people. To this end, it promotes, encourages and coordinates initiatives relating to welfare, the holistic promotion of the individual and prophetic denunciation.
The Naturgy Foundation
The Naturgy Foundation, set up by the power company in 1992, seeks to educate, train, inform and raise awareness throughout society on energy and environmental issues. It also develops Social Action programmes both nationally and internationally, by influencing particular initiatives aimed at alleviating energy vulnerability. It promotes initiatives in the cultural sphere, geared towards preserving and disseminating the historical heritage of the gas and electricity sector.
ANERR
ANERR is non-profit association whose objectives include promoting the rehabilitation and renovation of buildings and properties based on professionalism in the sector, and creating value for society. It believes that collaboration among institutions, companies and organisations in the sector is essential to achieve their goals, as well as to transmit the kindness of Efficient Rehabilitation to society.
ECODES
ECODES aims to achieve a more sustainable model of economic and social development through generating, implementing and spreading ecologically appropriate, socially fair and economically viable alternatives, so that the environmental and social costs are borne in mind when making institutional, business and personal decisions.
