For a municipality with only 44 registered residents like Senan, receiving three young new neighbors is not irrelevant. The challenge is that Andrii Paulenko; His wife, Liza, and his brother-in-law Artur, from Ukraine, put down roots in this town in Conca de Barberà where they arrived in October 2022 and thus contribute to stopping rural depopulation. Senan is one of the 24 towns that participated in the pilot plan to settle refugees and migrants in enclaves with fewer than 500 inhabitants. Experience has shown that in most cases twelve months is not enough, that it is necessary to extend the program for another year to see if these people can continue their lives in the so-called micro-towns.
Eighteen of the 28 immigrants and refugees hired by 24 municipalities have completed the pilot plan and are now starting a second phase, as confirmed by the Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC), which together with the Association of Microtowns (AMC) and the Secretariat of Equality of the Generalitat has promoted this initiative. The project tries to put its grain of sand into the challenge of favoring the employability of this collective and at the same time mitigate depopulation.
Andrii, 27 years old and who managed seven cafeterias in Ukraine, will continue working for the Senan City Council doing the tasks of a bailiff. Just like Marilú, mother of two daughters and a son of Salvadoran origin, who takes care of cleaning and different maintenance tasks at the Ulldemolins Town Hall (Priorat), and who has also started taking care of an elderly person. The youngest of the family, aged eleven, goes to the local school, but the two oldest, aged 18 and 20, have not had the same opportunities in a municipality of 400 inhabitants.
In this second phase, it is planned to correct the errors and reinforce the role of the mentors, the neighbors who, together with the hired technicians, must accompany them to detect their needs and get the most out of this experience for everyone.
“One year is insufficient, we need more time to achieve the objectives, in the first phase social integration has been promoted and in the second, labor insertion. Parallel to their employment in the town councils, they will look for work in the ordinary market, while their training will be reinforced. I consider it to be an innovative project, we have managed to connect the needs of the people with those of immigrants and refugees,” considers Susana Díaz, deputy director of Active Policies at the SOC.
The next few months will be decisive to see if the 18 people participating in this second part take root in these locations.
One cold morning at the end of December, Andrii comments that he doesn't want to make plans, that the war has taught him to think in the present. Things can change radically from one day to the next. In fact, last Friday he woke up with the news that Russia had launched missiles against his city, Odessa, where his parents and grandmother remain. “They are fine, I talk to them every day,” he says in the square in front of the town hall. He says that he traveled by car from Odessa, on the shores of the Black Sea, to Barcelona with Liza, a graphic designer, and Artur, a lawyer. “We arrived on May 24. First the Red Cross sent us to a hotel in Pineda de Mar and then to another in Santa Susanna. It was a difficult time for me because we did nothing. In October 2022 we came here, to Senan. I feel better because I am busier, I sweep the streets, I fix the social premises, I water the plants...”, he details. His unfinished business is learning the language. So far he has only taken a three-month course in Catalan and feels more comfortable communicating in English.
Although at first it was difficult for him to adapt to Senan's tranquility, he now appreciates going to bed without any problems. She is grateful that neighbors like Marta, Roser and Carme Ferrer, the mayor, have welcomed them so well. His wife, Liza, works occasionally at a hotel in L’Espluga de Francolí.
Andrii highlights that living in Senan allows them to save and that two or three times a week they go to Tarragona or Salou to see the sea. “For now, we will continue here for a year, then, when my contract ends, we'll see,” summarizes Andrii, who affirms that they are eager to have a child.
The mayor considers the experience of this program “super positive.” “That three new neighbors arrive in one of the towns with the fewest inhabitants in Catalonia, that they feel welcomed and that they stay is very important for Senan,” she says. Of the 44 registered, less than 20 reside permanently in this municipality. “We have all played the role of mentors,” adds Ferrer.
Of the 28 people who participated in the pilot plan hired by 24 municipalities, five returned to their country (Ukraine) between May and September; four have achieved other jobs in the same region; another has traveled to Barcelona to study, and the remaining 18 are those who have started the second part of the program, according to the data provided by the SOC. Xavier Camps, responsible for the program for Micropobles, emphasizes that the majority of participants in this type of extension will find a job in a few months, less than a year.
The intention in this new stage, indicated by the SOC, is to “reinforce training, based on the needs detected as a result of contact with the business fabric of the territory, and with more intense support from the technicians for their insertion as soon as possible. possible in the ordinary market.”
Learning Catalan and Spanish is one of the challenges so that they have more opportunities, as Andrii himself points out.
The SOC highlights that of the 18 current participants, in Almatret, Aspa, Baix Pallars, Bellaguarda, Ciutadilla, La Sentiu de Sió, Llardecans, Talarn, Torrebesses, Les Piles, Senan, Garidells, Ulldemolins, Freginals, La Torre de Fontaubella, Ordis and Pujalt, ten have children who are attending school in the respective areas.
Susana Díaz highlights that promoting contracts in the protected labor market facilitates future insertion. “While they work in the town halls, they look for a job outside, if they get it before the end of the year, the better,” she explains.
The budget planned by the SOC in this new stage is 670,000 euros financed by the Sectoral Conference.
Andrii is considering the idea of being able to combine his job at the town hall with mechanic or driver courses. And later he will decide with his partner if he stays in Senan.
