The Department of Business and Labour has launched the 'Fes un Truc' network so that minors without mobile phones can contact their families from local shops.
The initiative was presented this Wednesday in Sitges with the installation of the first sticker in the Sitgetana shoe store of the Eix Comercial. The objective is to create safe points where children and adolescents find immediate help if they get lost or need urgent assistance.
Businesses act as a temporary refuge
Alba Cabasés, head of the Sitgetana shoe store, explained how these interventions, common in the daily life of the local retail sector, work.
"It has happened to us before that children playing in the park don't know where their parents are, and we accompany them to the store, give them a glass of water, help them look, and call if necessary, and if now, in addition, we have a network to do it, we will be much more accompanied" - Alba Cabasés, manager of the Sitgetana shoe store
This informal protocol is now institutionalized through a visible sign in the shop windows. The signage clearly indicates that the establishment allows free or assisted calls to those who lack their own device.
Five thousand stickers for all of Catalonia
The response from the commercial sector has exceeded the initial forecasts of the Catalan government. Requests have been registered from 45 merchant associations from different territories.
In total, nearly 5,000 stickers have been requested and will be distributed in the coming weeks. In Sitges alone, around 600 units have already been ordered to cover most of the city's businesses.
Miquel Sàmper, Minister of Business and Labor, defended the measure as a tool to delay the age of access to smartphones. The administration seeks to encourage a more mature use of technology among the child population.