I dream of a world where we do not have plans for equality, because equality already exists.

Montserrat Sampere Martín (36) works for equality at the San Fermín Project Association, initiated in 1991 by the neighborhood association in San Fermín, a Madrid suburb. The town is faced with serious social problems. The Association has taken over responsibility for local and social development projects on employment, prevention of drug abuse, and social rehabilitation, revitalizing these projects and giving them a new dimension. Montserrat coordinates a project for the women of the neighborhood to promote equal opportunities for them.

The granddaughter of an exiled Republican political activist, Montserrat Sampere Martín was born and raised in San Fermín. From an early age, she rebelled against injustice and was frustrated by the reality in which she lived: “My first memories are participating with my parents in demonstrations and on highways protesting about the lack of safe housing and public services in our neighborhood.” After her studies at the University of Madrid, Montserrat completed a post-graduate degree in education, motivated by a desire to become more involved in addressing her neighborhood’s problems. An energetic woman with an active social conscience, she is ready to confront the injustice and oppression in her surroundings. “Justice begins locally, in the actual environment where you live. If all people creating local environments were coming out of other safe environments, the world would be a more human place,” she explains with hope. She started working at the San Fermín Project Association in 1997 and later developed the gender program. This project for the women of the neighborhood provides a wide range of services from employment and legal advice to seminars on the prevention of domestic violence and courses on new technologies.

San Fermín Project Association