Padova European Volunteering Capital for 2020

In 2013 the European Volunteer Centre launched the European Volunteering Capital competition to promote and develop volunteering at the local level by giving recognition to municipalities that support and strengthen local partnerships.

On December 5th 2018, in the city of Aahrus, Denmark, Padua was officially proclaimed the European Volunteering Capital for 2020.
The challenge is to transform Padua into a laboratory-city, to attract ideas, to activate projects, and to initiate activities aimed at stimulating collaborative actions among all the local social components.

There will be positive effects for the city of Padua, the Veneto region, Italy and Europe. The previous European Volunteering capitals were: Barcelona (2014), Lisbon (2015), London (2016), Sligo, Ireland (2017), Arhus, Denmark (2018) and Kosice, Slovakia (2019).

The initiatives will focus on seven in-depth thematic areas. These areas include: poverty and new forms of marginalization; health, sport and wellness; culture and education; technology and innovation; environment and urban planning; economy and sustainable development; peace, international cooperation and human rights. The initiatives are aimed at involving associations, institutions and all the citizens of Padua. 

At the European level, exchanges will take place with Kosice (Slovakia), the European Volunteering Capital for 2019, Novisad (Serbia), the European Youth Capital for 2019, Stirling (Scotland), candidate for European Volunteering Capital for 2020, and Galway (Ireland) European Capital of Culture for 2020.

In 2019, the city of Padua started to disseminate information around the recognition of Padua as the European Capital of Volunteering. An important moment was the second edition of "Solidaria", the Festival of the CSV (Volunteer Service Center) of Padua, held in the third week of September 2019, on the theme "Trespassing".

Among the initiatives scheduled for January there are: the seminar “Il cielo è di tutti, la terra è di tutti. Gianni Rodari e i diritti dell’infanzia", on January 16th, on children’s rights; the “Train’s Day” on January 19th; a training course on volunteering with migrants and refugees; and the cycle of meetings "Genitori in formazione" on parental’s education.

The CSV organizes also two meetings to train those who intend to contribute as volunteers to the initiatives planned for Padua European Volunteering Capital for 2020 on January 14th and January 28th, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

More information in the links below. 

Last update

7/1/2020