The new director of Cáritas Valencia, Aurora Aranda, warns of the phenomenon of “intergenerational transmission of poverty” and its chronic nature after pointing out that they are assisting 19 percent of the families served by the entity for more than ten years in a row.
“They are a series of exclusion factors that affect certain families and that are not solved with a job or access to housing, they have to do with social relationships, the environment of the neighborhood where they live or with personal training,” he says. Aranda (València, 1971) in an interview with the EFE Agency.
This social worker is deeply knowledgeable about the institution, where she has worked since January 1993, three decades in which she recognizes that social reality and Cáritas have “changed a lot”, while incorporating programs to respond to new realities, concluded others. .
As the new director of the institution, where she was general secretary since September 2020, she replaces the auxiliary bishop of Valencia Arturo Ros, who was there provisionally after the appointment of its previous director, Ignacio Grande, as regional secretary. of Family and Social Services of the Generalitat.
Aranda warns that poverty has become chronic and 19% of the families served by the entity have been coming to it for more than ten years in a row. “It is a very worrying and significant fact,” he acknowledges, warning of the “phenomenon of intergenerational transmission of poverty.”
“We still continue to serve people that we served in their day, and today we serve their children or grandchildren,” reveals Aranda, who points out that this “means that there is a base of people who are in a situation of exclusion and severe poverty, a need extreme situation from which it is very difficult to escape even though the social and economic reality can improve”.
Cáritas Diocesana Valencia served almost 52,000 people during 2022, around 7% more than the previous year, and although it does not yet have definitive figures for 2023, Aranda warns: “We sense that this figure has not decreased and that we are going to remain at similar figures”.
The “feminization” of poverty is confirmed, since women with dependent children (74%) are the people whom Cáritas most accompanies and also migrant families (75.6%), says Aranda, who highlights For Cáritas two fundamental issues: housing, which is increasingly difficult to access, and employment.
“Now, having a job does not guarantee that you can stop going to Cáritas,” warns Aranda, and although he recognizes that protection systems through basic income or the minimum vital income have supported some families and have allowed them to have a cushion on which to build their life project, “there are families looking for employment, women with minors in their care and elderly people who need care.”
He assures that Cáritas, a “Church entity without a political outlook”, has always maintained a “cordial relationship” with public administrations, “in search of understanding, encounter and coordination”, and emphasizes that with the previous Botànic Government they developed and They launched many projects.
“We have always had their support, and where we have wanted to influence or walk, if it was also an objective for the administrations, they have been there and sometimes they have presented us with alternatives and we have felt free to say whether we assumed it or not” , he adds to point out that with the current administration there is also a desire to coordinate joint work.
Asked if she thinks that public administrations sometimes delegate too much to entities like Cáritas, she asserts: “We always say that ours is a subsidiary role of the administration, of support and reinforcement, we do not want to become social services. When we launch projects It is because we believe that they are actions where we can contribute the perspective and vision of Cáritas.
“We feel free because the income and financing of Cáritas does not depend on the administration, about 70% is its own funds, and the objective is to continue in that line and maintain that balance. We believe that Cáritas, due to its mission and its identity, It is the reflection of the commitment of the Christian community and the Valencian Church,” he says.
He considers that Valencian society is “very generous” and remembers that last year the Church, through Cáritas, made the largest collection in history here in support of Ukraine, as well as the solidarity shown by citizens in “critical moments.” “like the covid-19 pandemic, or when checking the solidarity box on the income tax return.
It also highlights the “trust” that there has always been in Cáritas, both from the ecclesiastical level and from society in general, and from the donations received both from business and from individuals and private entities, as well as public funds.
The objective for the coming years is to continue accompanying people so that rights such as access to housing, to basic income that allow them to lead a dignified life, or to a job are recognized, and to help build “a better world.” , fairer and more equal”.
Also raise awareness and create awareness in society so that they have a critical look at what the reality of our environment is and are able to discover “invisible realities that exist around us,” highlights the director of Cáritas Valencia, an entity formed by 426 Cáritas parishes and has almost 5,000 volunteers who are “the heart” of the entity.
