THE IMPULSA/BOOST RESEARCH PROJECT
Over the past ten years, we have faced critical situations that have required reappraising the labour market and people’s employment options, calling for the creation of new formulas for facilitating socio-professional integration following the dearth of offers in paid work, while at the same time championing more egalitarian personal and career development, improving life choices. There is no doubt, however, that 2020 was a year of momentous change in the history of humanity, immersing us in an even more complex scenario that has heightened existing inequalities and such core issues as unemployment, poverty, and socio-professional exclusion. Indeed, the social and employment circumstances of working people in Spain, especially the young and women that are both vulnerable and at risk of exclusion, has been further compromised, with complications at grassroots level. Following a succession of financial upheavals and the current socio-health crisis, we are now confronted with key challenges that this project is helping to address, with one of the main ones being the need to build worthy careers and professional and personal trajectories through the development of individual and collective management competencies, involving both the public at large and the social partners for the better coordination and use of resources, reducing the digital divide, and fostering people’s empowerment. This will favour socio-professional inclusion, guaranteeing fair and equitable living conditions, and promote sustainability and the enjoyment of life, which is consistent with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) enshrined in the UN 2030 Agenda.
The IMPULSA/BOOST project, which means boost or drive in Spanish, therefore seeks to foster the personal and collective development of professional careers, especially among vulnerable groups, driving social change and better working conditions in different contexts and situations. This is to be achieved through the introduction of support networks and dynamization in integrated virtual environments. The project specifically involves three stages: the first requires compiling a programme of actions based on the application of a comprehensive model of career guidance using ICT tools and resources. The second involves engaging the public at large in this process, seeking its acceptance and introducing networks of support and cooperation that will help to identify needs, best practices, and lines of action. The third stage focuses on implementing and assessing the impact of the scheduled actions in integrated virtual environments and support networks, introduced with a view to dynamising, reinforcing, and boosting social change and employment. This calls for the establishment of a three-step mixed-method approach: a) Creating an instructional design that will cater for the application of a holistic model for building a professional career; b) Research-action for introducing support networks, validating the project, and identifying needs and solutions; and c) Intensive, descriptive, and experimental in its evaluation for direct action and its assessment.
This project is expected to provide solutions to this complex challenge, helping to redefine a revised explanatory model and a critical methodological framework for groundbreaking action that serves as a guide in the field of professional advocacy today.