Fundación Secretariado Gitano

Fundación Secretariado Gitano successfully completes the second edition of the TándEM programme [editar]

• Employment
• National level

This initiative consists of offering three months of theoretical training followed by nine months of work alternating with the training. In our case, it has been developed in different regional offices of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano throughout the country.

The second edition of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG) TándEM programme began on 15 November 2023 with 125 young people from all over Spain starting their training in eleven programmes in different specialities: Solar Panels, Gardening, Social Catering, Building Maintenance, Energy Efficiency (in person), and NGO Administration, Communication in Digital Environments and Health and Workplace Equality Promoters (online).

After three months of initial training with a grant, the students joined the FSG workforce through a 9-month work-study contract that ended on 14 November 2024. After two months of support from the TándEM coordinators in the search for employment or advice for self-employment, the programme ends in January 2025.

The results, two months after completion, have been very positive:

• A total of 109 out of the 125 who started have completed the programme, which represents a 12.8% dropout rate, in some cases due to job placements prior to completion.
• 26% of the students have found a job.
• 21% of the students have returned to formal education. This figure is particularly relevant if we bear in mind that 70% had not completed their compulsory secondary education.

With regard to the data by sub-programme, the insertion rate of students in the sub-programme ‘Efficiency in the use of energy in Madrid’ stands out, with 42%, and the high rate of students who resume formal studies in the sub-programmes ‘Health Promoters’ and ‘Administration in NGOs’, with a rate of 63% and 64%, respectively.

FSG is currently running the 3^rd edition of the TándEM programme with 58 young people participating in 5 sub-programmes: Administration in NGOs (in online format); 2 sub-programmes of Gardening; Repair of architectural park elements; Social catering sub-programme.

In addition to the improvement in employability that each young person gains from learning the technical knowledge and skills of a trade and the work experience acquired during a 9-month work-based training contract, we highlight the impact on young Roma, their families and their immediate environment.

When this latest edition ends in September 2025, the impact that the three editions of the programme developed by FSG will have had on young Roma, their families and their immediate environment is expected to be as follows:

• 231 young Roma trained (with a total of 795 hours) in eleven different specialities.
• 231 young gain professional experience through work-linked training contracts for 9 months.
• 231 families receive regular monthly income for 9 months.
• Public spaces (parks, gardens, nursery and primary schools, social services centres) in 13 different cities will have been refurbished.
• Daily menus will have been served through social catering programmes to 24 people in situations of dependency and social vulnerability for 9 months.
• 82 young people trained from more than 30 different cities will act as role models in their environment in occupations other than traditional ones (intercultural mediation, systems technicians, health and gender equality promoters, administrative staff, digital communicators)

We are confident that new editions of the TándEM programme aimed at young Roma can be carried out with the methodology we have developed thanks to the call from the State Public Employment Service: training in alternation with employment, face-to-face and online modalities, our own training adapted to the needs of the Roma population and companies.

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