In La Cañada Real, the willpower of the neighborhood and solidarity initiatives fuel an engine of change to lift hundreds of homes out of energy poverty. United Way España is there to boost it.
The La Cañada Real settlement, on the outskirts of Madrid, often appears in the media as a rare example of chaos amid the supposed order the first world prides itself on. In November 2021 we wanted to see firsthand how much truth there is in that image. We found a population woven together like in the old days, family by family, arrival by arrival, growing through arbitrariness until time has consolidated it into what it appears to be: a place where many people live in unacceptable conditions of precariousness. People outside the administrative machinery and political stigma, whose needs require a response every day.
While Madrid was preparing for its illuminated European-capital Christmas, in La Cañada we confirmed two realities as certain as the sun: that half the people who live there are minors, and that all of them have lived without electricity since October 2020. There are many hypotheses about the causes of this problem and, above all, about possible solutions, but none seems to reach solid ground that puts an end, in the short term, to situations that are indeed tangible. Whoever has no light cannot fight the cold, cannot light up a family gathering, cannot do homework, cannot send a résumé, cannot make a vaccination appointment. There are cases that directly affect survival, such as sick people who depend on an electrical device to breathe. In a society full of good institutional and corporate intentions, hundreds of people survive as best they can from an instability whose origin is clouded by a lack of consensus that hinders opportunities for progress. For La Cañada‘s population—especially the youngest—all of this represents an objectively unjust social bottleneck that we cannot allow.
Fortunately, we also found there people fighting apathy on the streets—with light or without it—and who attract those who can create an even stronger machinery of change. This is the case of Rahma Hitach, a woman who fights to dignify living conditions in La Cañada by leading a neighborhood activism association. Rahma told us about the Cañada Solar program, which consists of installing photovoltaic panels—with the active participation of the neighborhood itself in training activities—to bring electricity to homes or replace the gasoline generators that cause all kinds of problems (environmental, among others). We felt the project had extraordinary potential because, besides light and warmth, it brings a component of professional training around renewable energy and instills a non-assistentialist spirit in the community so it can be the architect of its own solutions. Technical and economic solutions, because Cañada Solar includes a financing design that allows these families to commit to paying the costs.
In short, it’s not about giving away energy, but about enabling La Cañada‘s population to install it and pay for it self-sufficiently and sustainably, gaining knowledge along the way. Behind Cañada Solar is the social entity Light Humanity, which has carried out similar projects in other countries and had already brought solar energy to some homes in La Cañada by the time United Way España learned about the project. “Rahma was the first brave one to bet on solar light. La Cañada‘s situation is, in a way, worse than in other places in the world where we’ve worked, because the lack of energy generates greater social differences. Most people who live there can’t live anywhere else. In Spain, the problem of extreme energy poverty is not internalized. It’s something hard to grasp, but it exists. Also, the rehousing issue isn’t clear, there are many cases that can take ten or fifteen years to resolve.” These are the words of Eugenio García-Calderón, founder of Light Humanity, who gave us the keys to defining the exact point where United Way’s work could boost the impact of his work.
How to help change the fortune of so many families? Structural issues aside, the precariousness caused by lack of electricity supply is an unacceptable situation whose effects we can’t let grow. We set our particular form of synergy in motion with the certainty it would trigger the multiplier effect we have promoted so many times.
Taking advantage of the pre-Christmas dates, we designed a campaign called La Otra Lotería (The Other Lottery), centered on a solidarity raffle that was, above all, a call to look without prejudice at the reality of La Cañada. Impact Hub—following its core commitment to society—and a number of brands that donated products to attract the hundreds of altruistic people who took part in the raffle did not hesitate to join. With the money raised, more than 7,000 euros, Light Humanity was able to reduce the installation cost of solar panels in 20 of the 140 homes with the greatest difficulties, those the entity calls “group 1” based on a detailed field study carried out by its social intervention specialists.
We spread the message across social media and the media until it reached other companies that joined the cause. But this time with the extraordinary added value of a long-term perspective. The agency We The Root produced a report covering the problem and our proposed solution; the video caught the attention of Enertis, one of the leading companies in the renewable energy sector, which, in addition to making a donation, has joined the cause with a corporate volunteering project designed by United Way España, through which we will contribute knowledge and human resources to Cañada Solar. Enertis’s commitment is spreading to other organizations thanks to their connecting us with the Spanish Photovoltaic Union, whose communication machinery in service of the project is widening the support network and has already allowed us to meet with two more companies.
And this is just the beginning. During 2022 we’ll keep working so more households can cover the initial cost of their solar panels, thus eliminating the bottleneck preventing them from normalizing their energy situation. In that “group 1” of households with special difficulties there are still 120 without access to light.
But our synergy goes further: it’s not just about raising money and good words, but about strengthening a route toward another reality, one in which La Cañada Real‘s population reaches, through its own effort and a bit of support, the living standards of a proud country. One in which the youngest generations feel that their community’s associative strength helps them escape the darkness; that Light Humanity’s technical and social project brings them light, warmth and something more; a reality in which citizen solidarity through gestures like La Otra Lotería is real and effective; a reality in which companies and their volunteer staff come closer to help them redefine their professional—and therefore vital—path.
At United Way España we will keep working to prevent marginalization from being passed down from one generation to another in La Cañada Real, because we know it’s not a matter of luck, but of will. We will keep lighting up the connection zones between agents whose coordinated effort can reduce inequalities. In the words of Light Humanity’s founder: “We live in the era of normalization versus organic settlements, but the norm hasn’t done its job this time. La Cañada Real‘s situation demonstrates our failure as a society and, therefore, the need for a common commitment to find solutions.”
No change is as possible as the one built by joining forces.
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