ECAS (Entitats Catalanes d’Acció Social) is a federation of Catalan social assistance organizations, which works mainly with people who are -or may eventually be- at risk of social exclusion. The direct assistance offered by the entities of ECAS and the effort of the federation to organize the third sector is based on the ongoing fight to get equal opportunities for everybody, as well as on our resolve to make a more egalitarian and fair society. Our aim is to add up all efforts and orchestrate them so as to allow for social inclusion, implement people’s rights, achieve a complete fulfilment of citizenship for everyone, and make for the welfare of all people by creating a society based on commitment and joint responsibility.

MISSION, VISION AND VALUES

MISSION | Promote and strengthen the capacities, competences and opportunities of social action entities in order to generate synergies and knowledge that help social transformation and fight against inequalities, and situate the federation as a significant reference in our country’s social policies.

VISION | Articulated around the three strategic axes of the federation’s activity:

• Utility: ECAS will be a fundamental tool in the structuring of the sector and in the generation of synergies in the field of social action, in such a way that the needs and interests that defend our entities are articulated from the federation. In addition, it will be facilitator of resources for the partners, training the organizations and helping them to contribute value to their activity.
• Representation: ECAS will combine and defend the interests of social action entities from a structure based on networking and community work, and will associate the entities of the sector that want and work to build a fairer and cohesive society.
• Incidence: ECAS will be a valid interlocutor for society and administration in order to achieve changes towards a more equitable society, with the capacity to show a consensual practice and discourse from a shared ethics.

VALUES | Confidence, Participation, Coherence and Corresponsibility.

• We collaborate from trust, with transparency and willingness to be complementary to the rest of the organizations in the sector.
• Participation with respect to diversity, critical capacity and self-criticism and in search of consensus.
• Coherence and rigor in the work of the entities in search of quality and social innovation.
• We vindicate the diversity of looks and appeal to collective responsibility to build a society that is fairer and committed to the general interest and, especially, to people in situations or risks of social exclusion.

ECAS was created in 2003 as a result of joining different social networks operating in Catalonia in order to create a forum for exchanging ideas, promote dialogue and coordination, not only with its own members, but also with the administrations and the rest of social agents. The Assembly, which is composed of all affiliated organizations, is the governing body of ECAS. At present, it is made up of over 100 social entities caring for the needs of 962,704 people each year by 20,930 professionals and around 13,500 volunteers.

On this excerpt of the 2018 Baròmetre del Tercer Sector Social (in Catalan), published by the Taula d’entitats del Tercer Sector Social, you can find a breakdown of all organizations of social assistance in Catalonia (the organizations they belong to, as well as their activities, financial and economic resources, internal operations, etc.).