Transparencia de Fundació CODESPA Catalunya
Employment for vulnerable women in Morocco, with the ISS “Una Sonrisa Más” Foundation initiative
The ISS “Una Sonrisa Más” Foundation and CODESPA Catalunya have signed an agreement to promote employment for women in Tangier and Tetouan, Morocco.
The agreement covers two projects to be carried out during 2027 and 2028. Each project will receive a donation of 60,000 euros, made possible through voluntary contributions from employees of ISS Spain—a company specializing in maintenance, cleaning, and facility management services. The foundation channels the team’s collective generosity toward social projects around the world.
The partnership between the two organizations began in 2007 with a project in Ecuador. Since then, the ISS “Una Sonrisa Más” Foundation has contributed over 575,000 euros to CODESPA programs aimed at fostering quality employment in Ecuador, Peru, Morocco, Colombia, and Angola.
Tangier: giving a second life to textile waste
Tangier is a city with a high level of activity in garment manufacturing and the second-hand clothing trade, which results in a massive amount of textile waste. At the same time, many women in the city live in a state of social exclusion, facing very limited opportunities to enter the labor market. This project offers an innovative response that addresses social needs (the inclusion of vulnerable women), environmental challenges (textile waste management), and economic opportunities (the market for recycled and sustainable products).
Twenty women will participate, Moroccans and sub-Saharan Africans, receiving practical training in textile techniques to transform these materials into sellable products, as well as support in accessing financing. CODESPA will also guide them in organizing themselves into a collective production structure and gaining access to sales channels through which they can market their products.
Furthermore, the project will create spaces for women from diverse cultural backgrounds to meet, get to know one another, and build a support network that extends beyond the project itself. Indirectly, around one hundred people—including the participants’ families—will benefit.
Tetouan: organic farming in the hands of women
In Tetouan, CODESPA will work with the cooperative VEGETELAND—which specializes in sustainable organic agriculture—as well as with surrounding rural communities. This initiative builds upon the work CODESPA began with the cooperative in 2025, which focused on providing technical support, strengthening the organization, and fostering green entrepreneurship among women. This effort will now be expanded to reach even more women.
Twenty-five women from the cooperative and nearby rural communities—all of whom are in vulnerable situations—will participate directly. In total, the project will benefit approximately 100 people.
In addition to providing training, CODESPA will supply the participants with the materials and tools needed for their fieldwork, with the goal of improving both the efficiency and the quality of their production.
They will also receive technical and commercial support to sell their organic products in local markets, as well as to hotels, restaurants, and cafés in Tetouan and its surrounding region.
As Eulalia Devesa, Director of Social Sustainability at ISS Iberia, explains, the goal is “to improve the living conditions of people in these rural areas by providing them with the opportunity for decent employment—work that allows them to apply their traditional agricultural knowledge and resilience—while fostering sustainable, locally-sourced agriculture led by women.”
We would like to thank the ISS Foundation and everyone at ISS Spain for their commitment, which makes these two projects possible.
