Hospitality Europe, an international non-profit association created by the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God and the Congregation of the Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has entered a new phase aimed at responding more swiftly and effectively to emerging challenges in Europe. This new stage incorporates a renewed strategic plan and the role of Director General, a responsibility assumed by Dr. Joan Uribe.
The renewal process, driven by both institutions, seeks to strengthen cooperation between centers and professionals, promote more flexible structures, and foster innovative responses to the new social and healthcare realities of the continent. Together with the General Assembly and the Executive Committee of Hospitality Europe, the Director General will coordinate the development of this new phase.
A new stage to strengthen collaboration in Europe
Among the priority objectives is to facilitate contact, knowledge transfer, and mutual enrichment through the exchange of working models among different European countries, as well as to improve the capacity to respond to emerging needs.
In this regard, Joan Uribe stated that “our activity is structured in three areas: strategic, operational, and relational. At the strategic level, we will initiate a common space for reflection available to general management teams at the European level of our institutions. At the operational level, we will continue developing innovative European projects, funded and implemented by centers.”
Likewise, the Director General emphasized that “we are strengthening the activity of our working groups: social inclusion, mental health, ageing and dementia, palliative care and end-of-life. These groups, together with those focused on vocational schools, ethics, social and healthcare pastoral care, and cultural heritage, are the driving force behind the change promoted by Hospitality Europe.”
These groups, made up of professionals from different countries, guide common strategies and methodologies that contribute to the development of the centers of both institutions in Europe.
In the relational sphere, Hospitality Europe continues to expand collaboration with European and international bodies, including institutions of the European Union and the World Health Organization. As Uribe noted, “our centers, both at national and European levels, have the advantage of sufficient autonomy to be sensitive to their environment and adapt their response accordingly.”
Hospitality in the face of new social challenges
Europe is currently facing challenges that generate new forms of vulnerability, such as population ageing, the sustainability of care systems, persistent social inequalities, climate change, the digital transition, and forced migration. Added to this is the growing complexity of situations of exclusion, with increasingly interconnected realities such as mental health issues, dual diagnoses, and social precariousness.
In this context, the General Assembly of Hospitality Europe has approved the position paper Hospitality in the face of hostility, which proposes hospitality as a universal value capable of humanizing relationships, strengthening social cohesion, and providing supportive responses to situations of greatest fragility.
Hospitality Europe promotes the creation of stable synergies between centers, models, and levels of specialization, with the aim of offering increasingly comprehensive responses adapted to the needs of each person. This shared vision of the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God and the Hospitaller Sisters is based on a common principle: resources must adapt to people’s realities, and not the other way around.
About Hospitality Europe
Hospitality Europe is an international non-profit association based in Brussels, created in 2012 by the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God and the Congregation of the Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Rooted in the culture of hospitality, it promotes cooperation, innovation, and knowledge exchange to improve the quality of life and autonomy of people in vulnerable situations, responding swiftly to emerging needs in Europe.
Desde su creación se han impulsado más de veinte proyectos internacionales, con impacto en miles de personas atendidas y beneficiarios directos e indirectos en distintos países europeos.
