SPAIN: ‘Incubators that save lives’ project honored
Salesian Institute of Pamplona’s project wins Learning-Service Award
(MissionNewswire) The Salesian Institute of Pamplona in Spain, in collaboration with two non-governmental organizations, Medicine Open to the World and Help Container, received a Learning-Service Award. The project “Incubators that save lives” began in 2021 and continued into 2022 with the support of seven other education centers.
This year, 359 projects were submitted for the awards and involved 121,429 students from more than 600 educational centers and social organizations from all Spanish autonomous communities. The themes addressed by the winning projects included healthy habits, solidarity, human rights, inclusion, environment, cooperative work, gender equality, the inclusion of people with disabilities, immigration, and reading.
The Spanish Learning-Service Network, Ministry of Education and Vocational Training, and the City of Seville, with the collaboration of the Edebé Foundation, announced the 21 winning projects for the Learning-Service Awards. The awards will be presented in Seville on Dec. 16, as part of the 15th state meeting of the Spanish Learning-Service Network.
The meeting will bring together more than 500 professionals seeking to promote the Learning-Service working methodology, which combines learning objectives and community service to provide a pragmatic and progressive learning experience while meeting society’s needs.
In recent years, the Learning-Service methodology has grown exponentially in Spain as an element of social and educational transformation. The methodology improves academic achievement, fosters students’ motivation, educates them about life and society’s problems, opens the school to the outside world, and develops an attitude of service to others, while helping students become supportive and committed citizens.
Father Gus Baek, director of Salesian Missions, the U.S. development arm of the Salesians of Don Bosco said, “We congratulate these students for their accomplishments. Projects like these reinforce how important hands-on preparation is in the education of new skills. Salesian missionaries have been working for many years to provide educational and workforce development opportunities for poor youth and women in Spain through residential, technical, and vocational training programs.”
Close to 32 percent of young Spanish workers under the age of 25 are unemployed and a growing number of them can’t afford to buy enough food to live. Poor youth with few employable skills struggle the most to find and retain stable employment. Women in Spain face inequality in the workforce. They earn up to 14 percent less than men and represent only 34.5 percent of those listed as the highest earners in Spain.
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Sources:
ANS Photo (usage permissions and guidelines must be requested from ANS)
Salesian Missions – Spain
World Bank – Spain