Refugee Support Programme Helps Women Rebuild Lives

Ana, a pseudonym, is one of 433 people supported in 2025 by the Fundació Tomàs Canet’s Programme for the Care of Refugees, according to reporting published on 11 October 2026 by ACN and carried by L'Empordà and Regió 7. After nearly two years in Spain, she is preparing to leave the foundation’s residential centre in Manresa and move to Barcelona to begin an independent life with her two children. She fled Russia with her sons to escape gender-based violence, initially arriving in the Canary Islands before being referred to Manresa. Since then, she has lived in a dedicated apartment at the foundation’s facility there, part of an 18-month state-supported integration programme run under Spain’s International Protection Programme by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration.

I imagined living in Catalonia and being a happy family

"I imagined living in Catalonia and being a happy family," Ana said in an interview. She chose Spain for asylum because she believed it offered stronger rights for women. Her children have been enrolled in local schools, where they have made friends and learned Catalan. "At first it was very hard, mentally," she recalled. "But gradually the fears faded."

Comprehensive Integration Over 18 Months

The Fundació Tomàs Canet, linked to the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God, has run its refugee support programme since 2017. It operates residential centres in Manresa, Castellbisbal, Barcelona and Sant Just Desvern, offering 137 places across the four locations: 87 in Manresa, 19 in Castellbisbal, 21 in Sant Just Desvern and 10 in Barcelona. The programme provides holistic support in social, legal, psychological and labour integration areas to help refugees gain full autonomy. As of early 2026, it had supported nearly 1,425 people since its inception. Jennifer González, the programme coordinator, explained that residents arrive having completely severed ties with their former lives, family, home, profession and language. Support is highly individualised: a woman escaping domestic abuse receives different assistance than a family with children. "Each person carries their own backpack," González said, "and often very complicated situations."

  • 47% of residents are from Venezuela, Ukraine or Palestine
  • 36.7% of those assisted in the first eight months of 2026 were minors (all within families, no unaccompanied minors)
  • 58.6% of programme beneficiaries are women

The foundation is currently hiring a labour integration officer for the programme, based in Barcelona and Sant Just Desvern, to further strengthen employment support for refugees entering the job market.

Reported by diaridegirona.cat, L'Empordà, Regió 7, fundacio-germa-tomas-canet.factorial.es, fundaciogermatomascanet.com, Diari de Girona.