Co-responsibility Plan for Care

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Equality, Universal Care

Promote, coordinate and fund the enlargement and creation of nearby public care services for zero- to fourteen-years old, out of school time.

Catalan Government

Spain

Regional policy

POLICY OBJECTIVE

The Co-responsibility Plan for Care is a public policy that promotes shared responsibility for care by expanding accessible, professional care services outside school hours. Its main goal is to free up time for caregivers, particularly women, and to advance gender equality through the redistribution and social recognition of care work.

CONTEXT

In Catalonia, care responsibilities continue to fall disproportionately on families and especially on women, limiting their available time for employment, rest, participation and personal life. The Co-responsibility Plan for Care this inequality by treating care as a collective responsibility and a key dimension of time justice.

POLICY DESCRIPTION

The programme guarantees public, professional care services for children and adolescents aged 0 to 16, and for young people up to 21 with disabilities. These services are implemented across the territory by local governments (municipalities and county councils) and include:

Municipal babysitting services (in public facilities or at home)
After-school and out-of-school care spaces
Leisure centres, open school playgrounds and holiday programmes
Care services outside the educational calendar

Beyond service provision, the programme:

Recognises and values care work
Promotes quality, stable employment in the care sector
Supports training, awareness-raising and actions to encourage more equal and co-responsible models of masculinity

The Co-responsibility Plan for Care is promoted by Spain’s Ministry of Equality and implemented in Catalonia by the Department of Equality and Feminism of the Government of Catalonia, in collaboration with local authorities.

KEY ASPECTS

Free and universal care services for children from zero to fourteen years old
Services implemented by local governments to ensure flexibility and proximity
When necessary, priority given to singleparent families, mothers/guardians who have suffered gender violence, women over 52, women in situations of long-term unemployment and women migrants
Defines professional profiles that these services can employ
Establishes a public system to professionally accredit care experience in the informal economy
Supports adapting spaces that are used for caring services
Local administrations receive support in the form of tool kits, a hotline and other resources from a gender-informed perspective
Follow-up based on indicators of use, results and impacts
Funding will be annual and there is a government commitment of continuity

RESULTS

By reducing the daily care burden, the Co-responsibility Plan for Care directly improves people’s use of time, enabling better work–life balance, greater participation in social and economic life, and improved well-being.

Policy's Website

Saray Espejo and Rosa Maria Ortiz

Directorate-General for Equity in Work and Co-responsibility
Ministry of Equality and Feminism – Catalan Government

equitat.igualtat@gencat.cat

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