Providing innovative and sustainable solutions for vulnerable children

The Vice Rector for Institutional Relations, Organisation and General Registrar, Dolores Carrillo, was in charge of opening the conference, which was attended by Rosa Martínez Rodríguez, Secretary of State for Social Rights. Also present were Rafael Ruiz de Gauna, director of the Pere Tarrés Foundation Training Institute, and Jesús Javier Llorente, state coordinator of Salesian Social Platforms.

During her speech, the vice rector recalled that these results show "the importance of cooperation and joint work in the creation of effective and sustainable solutions". "Research at Jesuit universities is distinguished by its social and academic relevance, developed in a scheme of collaboration and networking. At Comillas, we seek to ensure that our research has a direct impact on society, addressing relevant problems and offering innovative solutions to the most vulnerable, in this case, children," he noted.

The Secretary of State, for her part, highlighted the volume of investment in the project, one of the largest in history, underlining the need to adopt comprehensive policies that combine socio-educational, economic and housing aspects to attend to children at risk.

In the second part of the conference, Blanca De Cominges, from the Comillas Chair of Social Impact; Patricia Pólvora, from The Social Consulting Agency, and Txus Morata i Garcia, Maite Marzo i Arpón and Eva Palasí Luna, on behalf of the Pere Tarrés Foundation, presented the main results of the report, among them, that 98.9% of the participants and 78.4% of the families affirm that the model contributed to an increase in their degree of satisfaction with life or that it reduces the risk of institutionalisation by 1.75 points out of 100. The project also includes the creation of the digital tool "Impacto Social", an innovative resource that allows professionals to measure, design and monetise the social value of interventions.

The day culminated with a community dialogue table, in which educational intervention professionals shared experiences and lessons learned, and highlighted the need for sustained investment and maintaining trust in the agents involved.