Between July 13 and 17, 2015 there was a specialized consultancy session for the enforcement of the Social and Vocational Integration Service (SIS) and the preparation of several work protocols for inter-institutional collaboration on social and vocational integration. This technical support is being carried out within the framework of the EUROsociAL II program, financed by the European Union. 

The SIS is designed to serve as a meeting point for imprisoned young people and adolescents with potential employers. The purpose of the consultancy session that took place this July was to put the SIS into action; working protocols were drawn up to support the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies in the direct implementation of the SIS and in its relations with the employing businesses and organisations, thereby facilitating collaboration. The IJJO's technical support in putting this service into practice, following the completion of a creation guide, is part of the implementation of the ‘Social and Vocational Integration Model’ that has been under development in Panama during 2015.

The consultancy session was attended by a large number of people from different institutions in the public and private sector. The consultancy session promotes the training of IEI officials and relevant agents with view to the launching of the SIS services. As Emma Alba Tejada, director of the IEI, explains, “This consultancy session gives the business the necessary tools to start on the Social and Vocational Integration Service, which will be made up of professionals and organizations that prepare adolescents in conflict with the law for the job market six months before they regain their freedom.”

After having identified the infrastructures, spaces and teams that the SIS will require, as well as the businesses and organizations involved in this service,  EUROsociAL created the ‘Protocols for the collaboration between agents of Social and Vocational Integration’, a document which will also support the implementation of the Inter-institutional Coordination Protocol. This process has been led by expert Sergio Borrás.

The IJJO, together with the COMJIB, is operational partner in the Social and Vocational Integration of People Deprived of Liberty (coordinated by Expertise France), organized by EUROsociAL II, whose objective is to lend technical support for the implementation and improvement of public policies pertaining to the social and vocational integration of people deprived of liberty.

One of the participating countries in this course of action is Panama. Since 2013 EUROsociAL has been lending technical support to the IEI, which is dependent on the Ministry of the Interior. This collaboration began with the development of the ‘Strategic Plan for Social and Vocational Reintegration’ for adolescents in conflict with criminal law, which was approved and validated by the relevant Panamanian authorities in April 2014.

In the second half of 2014 two courses of action were undertaken: the design and validation of a ‘Social and Vocational Education Model’, and the creation of a ‘Social and Vocational Integration Model’ to launch and coordinate the implementation of the ‘Strategic Plan for Social and Vocational Reintegration’.