New board member, Jose Luis Pareja, president of Lares, shares a message with membership:

I am delighted to serve as a new member of the GAN Board of Directors. I appreciate this opportunity to allow Lares to strengthen its international commitment to the care sector.

Lares is the leading non-profit organization in the long-term care sector in Spain. Our mission is to improve the quality of life of the people we care for through the personalization of direct care, the training of professionals, and the search for funding and aid. The differential value of Lares is that we care under the prism of solidarity and non-profit, but we do it from professionalism and adapting to the evolution of society.

Lares Social Group works as an umbrella organization, which comprises three entities: a Federation (1996), a Foundation (2007) and an Association (2013). Back in the 90s, Lares was originally established in recognition of the need to coordinate the efforts of non-profit care service providers, to promote the respect for the dignity of older persons (and later also of people with disabilities), and to uphold humanity in the provision of care and services.

For more than 25 years, Lares has pursed the defense of the rights of older people, people with disabilities and those at risk of social exclusion, with a spirit of solidarity and social commitment. Lares is present in the 17 autonomous regions that make up the Spanish state. It employs 35,000 workers, and it brings together 1,000 centres and services in Spain, taking care of 54,000 older adults every day, approximately. As an employers’ association, we represent the interests of our members in collective bargaining processes and sectoral collective disputes.

At an international level, Lares is a member of the European Ageing Network, the Federation of European Social Employers, the Red Internacional de Adultos Mayores Preventores (a joint association with countries in Latin America), and more recently the Global Ageing Network. Lares is also part of the new European Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee for social services, aiming to ensure better working conditions for over 9 million social services workers in the EU and the provision of accessible, affordable high quality social services.

At the national level, Lares collaborates with the main social care and third-sector organizations, such as Confederación Empresarial Española de la Economía Social, Confederación Española de Organizaciones de Mayores, Confederación de Empleadores Sociales Sin Ánimo de Lucro, Foro LideA, Helpage International España, Plataforma del Tercer Sector, Sociedad Española de Geriatría y Gerontología, among others.

Lares carries out a wide range of national and international projects, aiming at improving the quality of social services, the equipment in care centres, the education of care professionals, or the social dialogue. We will continue to work hard to keep promoting affordable, high-quality and person-centred care.

We are excited about what lies ahead and are confident of achieving significant results together with GAN members. Together we are transforming the future of the long-term care sector.