Palacio de Congresos, Mérida (Extremadura-Spain) | 9 and 10 March, 2009

The Law on the Promotion of Personal Autonomy and the Care of Persons at a Dependent Situation grants people with limited personal autonomy an important set of social rights, thus consolidating and organizing the “Forth pillar of Welfare State”. The different Governments are immersed in the task of encouraging its development and in guaranteeing the final effectiveness of citizens’ subjective right to the promotion of personal autonomy and the care for persons at a dependent situation through the reinforcement of the System for the Autonomy and Dependants Care. 

Extremadura hoards wide experience in the development of quality social services, and its social policies lead the avant-garde of Spanish novel initiatives, having consolidated a wide portfolio of services in permanent collaboration with Social Third Sector organizations in the area of Disability and Elderly People.

In this context, the Spanish Red Cross in Extremadura anticipated the services the Law states, for its Programs aimed at balancing work and family life already focused on patients with advanced dementias and other highly dependent patients and provided them with the aid of professional carers. Together with projects such as the Programs of Remote Assistance, the Network of day Centers and the Adapted Transport Program, this initiative consolidate the Spanish Red Cross in Extremadura as a leader on the context of the care for persons with disabilities and/or at a dependent situation.

The European Academy of Yuste Foundation, through the Forum of the Social Europe, has contributed to the creation of an environment where values such as respect or the promotion of human rights and diversity constitute an essential contribution to the common principles of European cultures, founded in the respect for human dignity and in a solidarity-based quality of life. A meeting point, which looks into the sources of the diversity for the construction of new horizons.

Taking into account this situation, the European Academy of Yuste Foundation and the Spanish Red Cross organize a European Congress on Personal Autonomy and Dependency, which will take place at the Conference center of Merida, on the 9th and 10th of March, 2009.

The Congress will tackle the most important challenges of social policies on promotion of personal autonomy and the care for dependencies. It will encourage information exchange in order to develop new approaches and synergies, which will contribute to a better promotion of personal autonomy, attention to the situations of dependency, equality and the fight against discrimination based on disability and ageing in Europe.

Along with the European Academy of Yuste Foundation and the Spanish Red Cross, other entities have collaborated in the organization and development of the Congress: the Extremadura Regional Government, the City Council of Mérida, the Provincial Governments of Caceres and Badajoz, the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), the Federation of Municipalities and Provinces of Extremadura (FEMPEX) and the Committee of Representatives of Persons with Disabilities (CERMI).