X Intermunicipal Volunteering Meeting in Cascais

Volunteering: The Next Generations’ was this year's theme On 7 and 8 November, Cascais, the 1st Portuguese Capital of Volunteering, hosted the 10th Intermunicipal Volunteering Meeting, an event that brought together volunteers, managers of Volunteer Promotion Organisations (OPVs), and managers of Local Volunteer Banks from all over the country. ‘For Cascais, volunteering is part of policies to promote active citizenship and the exercise of democracy,’ said the Mayor of Cascais, Carlos Carreiras, at the opening session of the meeting, which took place at the Estoril Hotel and Tourism School on 7 November. ‘We have 25 years of Youth Volunteering in Cascais, which has allowed young people to gain work experience while encouraging social and territorial cohesion,’ added the Cascais mayor. This year's meeting brought together 31 municipalities and around 200 participants under the theme ‘Volunteering: The Next Generations’. The aim was to discuss and deepen the challenges and opportunities for renewing volunteering in the current context, with a special focus on attracting the younger generations. The decision to explore this topic stems from the difficulties faced by several PVOs in relation to the significant drop in the number of volunteers. This is a growing concern given that, historically, they have always relied on the dedication of older volunteers - many of whom, for various reasons, have been reducing their participation or are no longer available. This new reality emphasises the urgency of attracting younger volunteers with different concepts or perceptions of time, length of commitment and availability. ‘Together we can work harder and better for the sustainable, humanised and integrated development of volunteering in Portugal,’ said the president of the Portuguese Volunteering Confederation, Eugénio Fonseca. ‘I would like to thank the Cascais City Council teams for honouring this initiative to be the 1st Portuguese Volunteer Capital,’ he concluded. Carla Ventura, vice-president of CASES - Cooperativa António Sérgio para a Economia Social, praised the importance of a meeting that ‘promotes the sharing of experiences and good volunteering practices’. With a long-term vision, all the participants in this 10th Intermunicipal Volunteering Meeting were invited to reflect on the volunteering model that Portugal wants to have in the next 5, 10 and 15 years, encouraging the creation of innovative and sustainable strategies that strengthen the role of PVOs as pillars of solidarity and building the common good. Participants in the meeting also had the opportunity to visit the projects developed by Cascais in the areas of Social Volunteering, School Volunteering and Environmental Volunteering. ‘Cascais breathes Volunteering in a transversal way,’ said Frederico Nunes, Cascais City Council's Councillor for Youth, at the closing session of the 10th Intermunicipal Volunteering Meeting, which took place on 8 November. At this session, it was also revealed that the Portuguese Volunteer Capital in 2025 will be Maia, and the municipality's vice-president, Emília Santos, said that ‘it is with great pride and a sense of responsibility that we have received this nomination. Volunteering is about learning from each other in a genuine way’. Marta Osório, head of the Volunteering Division at Cascais Town Hall, said: ‘It was a great honour to be elected the 1st Portuguese Volunteering Capital. We felt it was recognition of the work that the Cascais City Council Executive has been developing and implementing over many years. In fact, we've been trying to convey what our path has been and the work we've been able to implement so far, so that the ultimate goal of the title is fulfilled, which is to enhance Volunteering at a national level and ensure that there are more and more volunteers working in Portugal.’ Marta Osório also thanked all those who have contributed to Cascais' success as the Portuguese Capital of Volunteering in 2024. The 10th Intermunicipal Volunteering Meeting was thus a unique opportunity to join forces, share experiences and chart new paths for volunteering in our country, reaffirming its importance as a form of civic participation and collective response to emerging social needs.