Over Errenteria
'Local Authorities with Less Than 50,000 Inhabitants' category
When 30% of your 39,000-strong population is of foreign origin and over 90 nationalities walk your streets, the moment a newcomer first encounters the administration sets the tone for everything. Errenteria decided that moment deserved more than a form and a stamp.
In the new Welcome Office, newcomers receive a 60-minute private interview in a soundproofed room; unhurried, attentive, and designed to ensure that health card processing and social registration happen before anyone can fall through the cracks. From that first encounter, the system connects migrants, women, LGBTIQ+ people and persons with disabilities to the full ecosystem of municipal services: the Women's House, the LGBTIQ+ Council, and the Badalab, a cultural laboratory where young migrants blend their mother tongues with Basque.
Quality is ensured through innovative tools. Ethical mystery shopping detects unconscious bias in service delivery. An independently managed anti-discrimination incident box captures what official channels might miss. And community representatives do not simply advise on inclusion initiatives - they hold a co-governance vote and veto power.
'Specific Award: Building an Inclusive Labour Market for All' category
In Errenteria, where around 30% of residents are of foreign origin, the municipality has identified barriers to access the labour market and has chosen to address both areas through targeted measures. Through the Talentu Programme, developed with a local vocational training centre, skilled migrants can have their qualifications certified, and their expertise channelled into the local metal and technology industries. In parallel, the Dignifying Care Initiative brings migrant women out of the informal economy through certified training in geriatric and socio-sanitary care. For those who want to build something of their own, an Inclusive Social Economy Programme supports entrepreneurship among persons with disabilities, women and migrants through social microloans, mentoring and incubators. And Errenteria does not stop at its own programmes: a dedicated Social Clauses Commission, with citizen oversight, ensures that every public contract the municipality signs promotes the hiring of people at risk of exclusion, thereby making inclusion a condition of doing business with the town.
Finalist video