Humanitarian context
Over 13% of Spanish households suffer from food insecurity. This means that more than six million people do not have regular access to sufficient food in terms of quality and quantity, which is detrimental to their health and normal development, especially children.
At least one in ten Spanish people of working age is unemployed or vulnerable. Which is why we address the problem of food security through a multi-faceted approach. In addition to developing programmes to improve the economic and nutritional situation of families, we innovate to boost the employability of the most vulnerable people, promote healthy lifestyles, train unemployed people and work on programmes to detect food insecurity.
BENEFICIARIES
% find employment
New businesses set up
% businesses still open 1 year later
solidarity aid cards since 2020
€ generated for every 1€ invested
Our activity
At Action Against Hunger we are working in Spain through our social action strategy for 2021-2025. This strategy is mainly based on two programmes: social and professional integration and food security.
In 2023, we allocated a budget of 8.8 million euros for our programmes, reaching more than 5,000 families.
In the area of socio-occupational integration, we have since 2014 created and promoted employment opportunities for more than 32,000 unemployed and vulnerable people. In 2023 alone, we achieved this for around 5,000 people. We offer employment and training pathways to equip beneficiaries with personal skills and competences. As a result, they achieve a 43% job placement rate in less than six months. Our vocational schools have demonstrated great capacity to adapt to changes and generate interest among groups in difficulty.
Meanwhile, our entrepreneurship projects aim to reduce the gender and opportunity gap. We have managed to have more than 70% of new businesses run by women, with 25% of the young people who complete one of our youth entrepreneurship programmes becoming entrepreneurs
In terms of food security, we promote a "healthy living approach", raising awareness of the link between healthy lifestyle habits and professional success. We provide financial assistance to the most vulnerable families through food assistance programmes and cash transfers. We also innovate in systems and methodologies to detect and prevent food insecurity. We develop these lines of work with the collaboration of the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Basic Operational Programme.
In addition, we are conducting research with the Complutense University of Madrid that demonstrates the relationship between health and employability.
WHERE
WE HELP
We help 24.5 million people each year. We work in 55 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe, those most threatened by hunger.
EYEWITNESSES
CECILIA: "THANKS TO MY WORK I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET INVOLVED IN SOCIETY"
Before emigrating to Spain, Cecilia had to close her business in Colombia and sell everything they had. At the end of 2021, they were granted asylum, which allowed them to obtain a work permit for three months, but it was not easy to get a job "They wouldn't even look at my CV, even though I had a work permit. We were always told to come back when we had all the final papers. I started to think: "Will I find it impossible?" explains Cecilia.
However, despite her determination to better herself and look for work, Cecilia did not always achieve the desired result. "Everything changed thanks to Action Against Hunger. Just before my permit expired I was able to enter the employment programme and now I have finally got a job and an income," she says.
Action Against Hunger programmes focus in Spain on promoting the social and occupational inclusion of people at risk of exclusion generating opportunities through entrepreneurship and employability actions. "Thanks to my work I have been able to join society, pay social security, and that will allow me to continue getting my papers later on. Most people reject you when they see you in this situation; being included makes you feel like a real part of the system."
Cecilia and her family are still living at her sister-in-law's house, but she is already beginning to glimpse a better future in which there is also room for a personal dream, to carry out a project with which she will give back everything she has been given: "I would like to be able to open my restaurant, also with the help of Action Against Hunger and its entrepreneurship programmes. A space in which to hire people at risk of social and occupational exclusion who are going through the same process that my family and I have gone through. Also, to be able to find our own place and go our own way together."
At Action Against Hunger we support the idea that decent employment is an essential tool to fight food insecurity and social inequality. Cecilia's access to a job has also had a positive impact on the lives of her entire family: "My youngest son is integrated in school and playing basketball on a team. And the eldest has been accepted at the University of Navarra to continue his studies in business administration and law." She continues: "Thanks to Action Against Hunger, I have been able to earn money, and I have a future. It's like a clear horizon that opens up so that I can help my family to get ahead. In the short term, I will be able to sort out the paperwork, and thanks to my work will be able to apply for employment status and continue paying social security."