Peridis lanzaderas roadmap final

JOSE MARIA GONZALEZ PEREZ “PERIDIS” AND ALVARO RETORILLO OSUNA FUNDACION SANTA MARIA LA REAL SPAIN, ASHOKA FELLOW 2008

https://www.ashoka.org/fellow/jose-maria-perez-gonzalez-perez http://www.santamarialareal.org/

PROBLEM In the early 1980s, Spain’s economy was struggling to recover from the end of a dictatorship.

Unemployment was over 50 percent, affecting mostly women and young people.

Architect by training, Peridis designed a solution to the issue of unemployment by supporting, reskilling and providing jobs to the unemployed in the restoration sector, therefore conservating a significant part of the Spanish patrimony of historical buildings over the past 40 years.

Over the last years, the extremely high unemployment in Spain drove him to expand his work and find new solutions that could reach various professionals and that could offer empowering tools and focus on the capabilities and unexploited skills of the unemployed.

IMPACT

SOLUTION To fight the isolation of the unemployed and help them reenter the labour market with new skills and an entrepreneurial attitude, in 2014 Peridis launched “Lanzaderas”, a program aimed to boost employment and entrepreneurship by adopting a collaborative model based on the mutual support of the group of unemployed people and their ability to work in teams.

Each "Lanzadera", or "shuttle", consists of groups of 20 volunteers aged 20 to 60, who agree to work together, to help each other to find a job, start a new activity or improve their professional qualifications. To do so, they have the help of a coordinator (coach) that creates the conditions so that every person can grow professionally and personally.

The members act as the Musketeers, "All for one and one for all." Every person actively seeks employment for herself and for the other members and vice versa. Lanzaderas’ aim is to increase the employability of participants through the diagnosis and analysis of their capabilities, the strengthening or restoration of their self-esteem, transversal skills trainings and the creation of individual and group networks of contacts.

Peridis’ model is as relevant in Spain as it is in Latin America or Africa. Lanzaderas was launched in 2013, with 5 Lanzaderas in 2 regions of Spain. The following year, Lanzaderas grew to 46 CBSE and to date 126 groups have been organised in more than 40 cities across Spain. Out of the over 2000 people who participated, more than 1200, that is about 63%, have have been reinserted on the job market. About 18% of them started new entrepreneurial activities. The Region of Cantabria has adopted the model as a public employment policy.

VISION An architect by training, Peridis has been working all his life to generate local development, boost employment, and bring marginalized youth more fully into society. Peridis is also a well-known caricaturist, has written several books, and participated in a television series, which made the success of his social programs always more famous.

The value of his first project Trade School Workshops was recognised by the government, and resulted in the creation of a a National Institute of Employment, later on the Foundation of Santa Maria la Real. Today, the foundation has 200 staff members running various training, communication and research programs for employment and social development.

ROADMAP PERIDIS

With the support of

ROADMAP JOSE MARIA GONZALEZ PEREZ, “PERIDIS” SCALING STRATEGY

Peridis and Alvaro aim to scale Lanzaderas through a strong network of local partners who take responsibility for implementation in new geographical areas while Santa Maria La Real Foundation ensures the quality of the program through supervision.

Once suitable and committed partners are identified and a plan for at least two local pilot groups is agreed, the Foundation will train the coaches, transfer the methodology and provide technical assistance. Among the key lessons learned from the Spanish experience is the importance of creating a public-private collaboration model, involving local authorities and companies.

To facilitate the transfer of the methodology to Portugal, Greece and Italy, a mandate was given to the consulting department of Deloitte to develop a replication model for foreign countries and the report is expected in the next weeks.

SHOWCASE

FIND PARTNERS

SCALE

MEASURE LOCAL IMPACT

SCALING LANZADERAS Launched in 2013, Lanzaderas is currently fully operational in Spain and registers a rapid growth and expansion in new communities. While EU funds were scarcely used to pilot the program in Spain, being fully financed by companies and the local administration, such funding could be taken into consideration to kick-start the replication in Southern-European countries.

The program is currently funded by the Spanish government, local Foundations such as Fundación Telefonica, banks such as Barclays and Rabobank, academic institutions and other national organizations, as well as through the European Social Fund.

SCALING LANZADERAS On February 2016 Alvaro took part in the Innovate to Restart event, an international event organized with the support of Robert Bosch Foundation and other local partners, where he presented the model to a wide audience.

On this occasion, Laura Brolis, Alvaro’s local advisor in Italy organised several meetings with local potential partners interested in better understanding his model and analysing how it could be transferred to Italy, among which Unbreakfast, a new Milanese initiative aimed to support the unemployed, Performatsalute, which provides self training and professional help for the jobless, Fondazione Mirafiori, Orienta, an Italian consulting company offering services in HR, as well as a major Italian bank. Alvaro and Laura and now following up with these contacts while awaiting the results of the study undertaken by Deloitte in order to be able to start concrete conversations around local replication.

Should you be interested in helping Peridis and Alvaro to scale in one of these three countries or partner with them, write to Ashoka Spain – comunicacion@ashoka.org, Ashoka Italy - italy@ashoka.org or Ashoka Greece – ashokagreece@ashoka.org !

With the support of