Barcelona – B-MINCOME

The implementation of the GMI among households in situations of poverty should also prompt a comparative analysis concerning the costs of policies aimed at fighting poverty, with the ultimate goal of developing more efficient welfare services. It is a new solution adapted to the new poverty related phenomena occurring in the city.

·       It was presented to UIA-Initiative (EU) the by Ajuntament de Barcelona; The Young Foundation – Think Thank; IVALUA. Catalan Institute of Public Policy Evaluation- Research Center; Autonomous University of Barcelona. IGOP. Institute of Governance and Public Policies – University; UPC. Polytechnic University of Catalonia – University; NOVA. Center for Social Innovation – NGO.
The municipal GMI system will provide families with security, freedom and greater responsibility as a lever in overcoming poverty. The new strategy is based on new core elements:

a)     Testing several types of GMI;

b)    Combine GMI with integrated one-stop-shop public and private active policies and

c)     Strengthening inhabitant and community’s initiative.

This innovative ecosystem in the fight against poverty includes also a set of services made available to persons receiving the income; a better understanding of poverty, based on the life stories of those affected; a social currency to cover a part of the GMI, and new forms of co-creation, interrelation between services, community involvement and public-private cooperation.

In 2017, the B-Mincome experiment will started. 1,000 randomly selected households in the Besos district — one of Barcelona’s most economically disadvantaged areas — will receive cash subsidies of an amount sufficient to ensure that their earnings exceed the poverty line. At the time of this writing, the City Council of Barcelona is still finalizing the design of the study. However, the city plans to test several types of GMI schemes, and it plans to investigate them in conjunction with improvements in public services.

Contact : Bru Lain Escadell bgrafic@gmail.com