The opportunity of the project has to do with the topicality of the topic analyzed, its social importance and the latent demand for information on the consequences of COVID-19 in the organization of care.
Thus, the project addresses some of the fundamental challenges facing our society, with the aim of advancing in the search for alternatives capable of responding to the current demands resulting from the profound change and transformation we are experiencing: challenges related to health, aging, the transformation of our social systems, and the application of the principles of inclusion of the most fragile segments of society. Thus, the International Labor Organization points out how care work, paid and unpaid, is of vital importance, placing it on the public agendas of states. The trends of certain socioeconomic, demographic and environmental factors point to the increase in deficits in the provision of care, affecting the viability and sustainability of schemes based on the centrality of families (mainly women and girls) and communities as main providers of care. watch out. They are also affecting the distribution of care across the social spectrum and the life cycle, and the impact this has on people’s health and well-being, their participation in family life, the world of work and the public sphere. (ILO, 2018).
In this sense, the project is embedded in two of the challenges that the Spanish Strategy for Science and Technology and Innovation 2013-2020 establishes as strategic lines: Health, demographic change and well-being and Social changes and innovations (taking into account that the effects of the pandemic that occurred in 2020 were contemplated).
In relation to the challenge of Health, Demographic Change and Well-being, the increase in care needs that has led to important demographic and socioeconomic transformations, as well as the consequences of COVID-19, are affecting the relationship between the state, the market, the third sector, the family and the community, and therefore, the design of social and care systems, to guarantee their sustainability, universality and quality (basic purpose of the research project). Thus, the research aims to provide knowledge about the relationship models in the provision of services that allow an active, autonomous and assisted daily life to an aging population and dependent people. In addition, there will be an impact on those alternatives of civil society to current models, proposing proposals for action that, from innovative approaches around a community, self-manage and develop mutual support mechanisms, with a clear desire for social transformation (Challenge ” 1.4.1.Active aging, autonomous and assisted living” in the field of Health, Demographic Change and Well-being in H2020: Spanish Portal of the Framework Program for Research and Innovation of the European Union; https://eshorizonte2020.es/).
In relation to the challenge of Social Changes and Innovations, the increase in female participation in paid employment, without abandoning their dedication to care work, and the impact of migratory flows, impact and modulate the state’s response to the provision of public services and their relationship with private entities, families and civil society. The project presented, focusing on the implications of COVID-19 on care needs and care work, will provide those elements that allow a better understanding of the current situation, the quality of public policies and, relevantly, the strategies of economic and social actors. The relevance of the research project in the challenge of Social Changes and Innovations, is also specified in the challenge indicated in H2020 (Spanish Portal of the Framework Program for Research and Innovation of the European Union; https://eshorizonte2020 .es/): “to promote a better understanding of Europe, offer solutions and support inclusive, innovative and reflective European societies”. Specifically, the knowledge obtained will serve to design strategic lines of intervention and proposals for improvement, in the elimination of processes of social inequality, based on the critical analysis of innovative experiences in the social distribution of care and in dialogue with the models European cohesion and social welfare and legal organization.