Additional places on the Nausica refugee shelter programme

The Nausica refugee shelter programme is strengthening its role as a means of socio-labour insertion, with an extra investment of 500,000 euros to increase its capacity by 37 places, from the current 83 to 120.

19/06/2020 17:32 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

Last year saw 142 people go through the Nausica programme between those who completed their stay and those still on it. The programme has helped 223 people in the last four years and the intention is to increase capacity by more than 50% in 2020.

The Nausica programme offers a set of services which adapt to its users’ needs, helping to improve their autonomy. The programme provides temporary shelter and covers people’s basic needs, providing them with a comprehensive work plan for social support, psychological and professional assistance, language learning, legal guidance, training, labour advice and help with schooling for young children and teenagers.

More social and labour insertion

The Nausica programme has a positive impact on the autonomy of users, as the assessment made by the Broll cooperative found. In 2019, some 46% of people of working age managed to get work contracts.

Even so, the work found very often involves temporary or part-time contracts. Some 40% of the people who found jobs did so for a maximum of three months, while just 2.5% managed to get contracts for more than 9 months. Compared to 2018, the number of users who signed two or more contracts doubled, rising from 17% to 34%.

The gender gap is also apparent among Nausica users. While 54% of men found work, the percentage among women was 32%. Even so, temporariness affects women less, as 64% of those who found work signed contracts for longer than 3 months, some 15% more than men.

Employment among LGBTI people on the Nausica programme has risen by 7% compared to 2017 and now stands at 36%. Two years ago, 21% of people were working cash-in-hand, while in 2019 that percentage was cut to zero.

Learning new languages to find work

The figures show that a command of Spanish and Catalan is a key factor when it comes to finding work. Some 53% of participants on the Nausica programme who speak Spanish and also understand Catalan have found work and have better incomes than those who don’t.

Over half of users leave the programme able to understand Catalan, some 17% more than in 2017, and for the first time there are people who speak and write it. More women than men learn it, some 59%, compared to 47% of men, leave with a comprehension of Catalan.

User profiles

Some 84% of Nautica users access the programme as asylum seekers. At the end of 2019, one in five users were in a position of supervening irregularity.

In terms of education, nine out of ten people have completed secondary education at least, and 20% have university studies. The number of illiterate and non-schooled people is below 10%.

The origins of Nausica users are highly diverse. In 2019, some 18% were from Ukraine, 12% from Honduras, and with lower percentages, Pakistan (6%), Morocco (6%) and Somalia (5%). Since 2016, the 223 people who have been through the programme have 30 different nationalities between them.

 

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