During the first week of June, a delegation from Altea composed by the technician of European Projects, Paloma Verdú and the Coordinator of Social Services, Braulio Cencerrado participates in the inauguration of the Volunt-EU project in Athienou, Cyprus. A project led by Altea Town Council in response to the social crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city of Athienou has been chosen as a reference in youth volunteering in this project, thanks to its numerous actions and the great impact of this type of volunteering in society. The agenda of these days is marked by coordination sessions to mark the routes of the Volunt-EU project; visits to different projects in the Cypriot city; debates on COVID-19 and its social effects in Europe; how volunteering has reacted to these effects and intergenerational workshops. All this in the hands of experts in the field, technical staff, associations and volunteers.
The aim of this first meeting is to organise the next actions of the project, which is why the delegations gathered on this occasion have been technical. Each working meeting will take place in a different country, which will have to organise actions and projects to study their results and apply them in the different cities participating in the project.
Last January, Altea Town Council was informed of the approval of the EU-Voluntary project, Voluntary Cities in response to the Social Crisis caused by Covid-19 by the European Commission within the CERV programme (Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values). This project is led by the City Council of Altea, through its European projects office, EuroAltea, and has the participation of organisations from countries such as Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, the Netherlands, Romania, Portugal and Greece. In the case of Altea, the organisations that will work together with the Town Hall in this youth volunteering project are Corazón Exprés, Cruz Roja, De Amicitia, Caritas and Protección Civil.
The project aims to create a network of cities at European level for the exchange of experiences and learning for the promotion of youth volunteering in the face of future crises such as the one known during the COVID-19 pandemic.
