A selection process for people who will benefit from employment plans is also starting. These are just some of the actions planned for tackling unauthorised street selling by offering alternatives and ways to social inclusion.

A process is under way to select 15 unauthorised street sellers to set up a cooperative. Once they have been selected they will have to work in a viable business, defining a business model that is technically and economically feasible. Over the course of three years to 2018, the number of people working in this cooperative project will increase to 25.

Anyone who would like to be part of the project must show that they have been living in Barcelona for one year at least and the Spanish State for three years, besides having no criminal record.

The starting point for the project involves identifying the needs of this specific group and putting forward a business project that has absolutely no link with unauthorised selling.

Employment plans for 40 people

This August has also seen the start of a selection process for 40 people who will receive training under new employment plans targeting unauthorised sellers that the City Council is going to launch.

This active employment policy is designed to facilitate sorting out their legal position, and getting them retrained and back into work. So people will be selected that have not sorted out their legal situation in the Spanish State, especially those who are in a vulnerable situation.

The new plans are divided into different kinds of employment, after identifying potential jobs. That means 10 people will be chosen and trained in community centre support and animation activities, in collaboration with the Social Rights Department. Another 15 will receive training linked to maintaining and repairing municipal school sports courts, in collaboration with the Barcelona Education Consortium. The other 15 will be trained in maintaining and repairing public facilities, and cleaning and adapting public spaces, in collaboration with the Sant Martí district.

The plan is to start regularising the situation of the candidates while they are taking part in the training, prior to being offered a contract in their name for a period of 12 months, which will allow the appropriate legal and administrative formalities to begin.

Information on social resources available

This week also sees the launch of a campaign aimed at informing street sellers that what they are doing is not allowed, and reminding them of all the municipal resources available to them to guarantee their basic rights.

In all, 5,000 leaflets will be distributed in four languages – Spanish, French, English and Wolof – through public social care centres and by social educators on the streets.