On Monday, 21 September, Suara Cooperativa welcomed Paco Ramos, the Government of Catalonia’s Secretary for Labour, to its Barcelona headquarters. He led a delegation from the Department of Business and Labour to gain first-hand insight into the organisation’s cooperative model, activities and main areas of innovation and social transformation.
The visit combined a meeting with representatives of the cooperative and a tour of its innovation spaces. This format provided an opportunity to discuss the challenges facing professional teams and showcase projects developed in response to needs identified across our services.
The delegation, led by Paco Ramos, Secretary for Labour, also included Núria Gilgado, Director-General for Labour Relations, Self-Employment, Occupational Safety and Health; Federico Muñiz, Director of the Public Employment Service of Catalonia (SOC); Ricard Bellera, Director-General for Social Dialogue; and Lluís Font, Director of the Consortium for Continuing Training of Catalonia.
Representing Suara were Laia Bonastra, President; Laura Peracaula and Tomàs Llompart, Co-General Directors; Sergi Bota, from the People Department; Víctor Buil, from Labour Relations; and Àngels Cobo, from the Digital Business Department. Bàrbara Outeiro accompanied the delegation on the tour of the innovation spaces and projects.
Around the table, we shared our cooperative model, which works alongside people across a wide range of fields, extending beyond care. We discussed quality employment, participation, professional development, training, occupational health and the wellbeing of the teams that make our services possible.
The meeting offered an opportunity to explain how this understanding of the cooperative takes shape in the daily lives of our members and employees, and how we connect the needs of our services with new approaches to supporting people.
During the tour, Bàrbara Outeiro helped us present the Social Digital Lab’s pilot projects, and we also showed the delegation the 3D printing space. We explained how we identify challenges, co-create solutions and test them with our teams, starting from the needs of the people we support.
With Àngels Cobo, we introduced the work of the Digital Business Department and Casal TV, a project that brings activities, companionship and social connections to older people in their homes through their television. Pere Barnola, from YASYT, also joined us to share the company’s approach to using technology to support people and professional teams.
The visit concluded in the immersive reality room, where we demonstrated the potential of this technology as a tool to support people and promote wellbeing.
We thank the delegation for visiting, listening and taking an interest in Suara, and everyone who made it possible to share the work we do every day across our services and teams.
