2.4 Youth volunteering at national level
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National Programme for Youth Volunteering
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Funding
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Characteristics of youth volunteering
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Support to young volunteers
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Target groups
National Programme for Youth Volunteering
There is no national programme for youth volunteering, which is a general, nationwide programme, organised, funded and monitored by the State.
The Ministry of Social Rights and 2030 Agenda promotes specific projects of youth volunteering. Moreover, the Youth Institute (Instituto de la Juventud) offers specific programmes and information for youth volunteers nationwide.
The main volunteer program of the INJUVE is the International Volunteer Fields (Campos de Voluntariado Internacional) an ongoing program since 2012 that offers the opportunity of participating in volunteer projects in different countries. Aimed at young Spanish citizens between 18 and 30 years.
Other programs of the Ministry of Culture and Sports include FormARTE, with the objective of promoting the training of specialists in artistic matters, cultural management, archives, conservation and restoration, museology and librarianship, and CULTUREX, focused in practical formation on cultural management for the Spanish youth in cultural institutions abroad.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico) has developed its own volunteering projects. The Volunteer Program in National Parks (Programa de Voluntariado en Parques Naturales) is one of them with the objective of providing funding for the NGOs responsible for the volunteering activities.
Also the Volunteer Program in Rivers (Programa de Voluntariado en Ríos) whose purpose is to increase the social participation in the conservation and improvement of the ecologic situation of the rivers in the watersheds managed by the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
Funding
As there is no national programme for youth volunteering, all information regarding this population group is included in the national programme coordinating all generic volunteering.
Due to the existence of state and autonomic programmes, it is difficult to make estimations for all volunteering activities undertaken. Moreover, also those organisations carrying out youth volunteering programmes receive financial aid both from the State and from the Autonomy, and this is the reason why we have to consider each Spanish public administration separately.
Financial aid for the development of volunteering projects comes mainly from the General Government Administration, Autonomic Administrations and local Entities.
In the national scope, there are several financial aid lines specially addressed to promoting youth associationism and volunteering.
First of all, financial aid for maintenance, functioning and equipment of youth associations, youth organisations and entities providing services to youth has to be mentioned.
The Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID), under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation (Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Unión Europea y Cooperación) offers funding programmes for volunteering entities, not only for the development of cooperation programmes in the field (abroad) but also for works carried out within their own headquarters as well as in projects development. For example, in the year 2023 a grant has been awarded for the Coordination of Non-Governmental Organisations in the amount of 600,000 €.
The Ministry of Culture and Sports (Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte) also offers financial aid for cultural volunteering in different Museums and activities related to Cultural and Historical Heritage.
As the grants in the FormARTE program funded with 890,000 €, from the budget of the Ministry of Culture and Sports, for the year 2024. Also the CULTUREX grants endowed with a budget of 268,413 € for 2023 and 2024, from the Ministry of Culture and Sports.
Likewise, the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico) also offers financial aid for environmental volunteering both within the state scope and in the Autonomous Regions.
At national level this ministry operates two programs of volunteering. The first initiative is the volunteer program in National Parks. A program equipped with a budget of 550,000 € in the year 2021, from the budget of the Autonomous Organization of National Parks (Organismo
Autónomo de Parques Naturales) assigned at the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
The other initiative is the Volunteer Program in Rivers (Programa de Voluntariado en Ríos) funded through the Biodiversity Foundation (Fundación Biodiversidad), a public sector foundation. The budget handled by this entity for the mentioned project was for the year 2019 of 3 million €, from the budget of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
Moreover, the network Reducamar provides an inventory of a wide range of volunteering and trainning programmes at a national and regional level and free access educational ressources.
The Home Affairs Ministry (Ministerio del Interior) regulates volunteering activities concerning Civil Protection, developed mainly through provincial, regional and state networks, organised by volunteering groups; at a State level the National Association for Volunteer Groups (ANAV) is included in and promoted by the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies ( Dirección General de Protección Civil y Emergencias), as well as the Civil Protection National School (Escuela Nacional de Protección Civil). All different levels of Civil Protection include, to a different extent, financially aided training, as well as equipment and financially aided resources for volunteering.
Characteristics of youth volunteering
In Spain there is not an official record of the level of participation of young people in volunteering apart from CIS Barometers, public opinion polls, that measures the participation and belonging to different associations, like volunteer associations.
According to the report “The Volunteer action in 2022” (La acción voluntaria en 2022) produced by the Spanish Volunteering Platform, four out of ten people over 14 years of age engage in some form of collaborative activity and 8.2 % are volunteers (data from June 2022). There is a higher rate of volunteering than weight in the general population among the youngest, between the ages of 14 and 24. 15.3% of youth within this age group state that report volunteering.
The survey indicates that 10% of the people who volunteer are students.
Support to young volunteers
Institutional support for volunteers is included in Article 10 of volunteer’s rights in the Law 45/2015 (Ley 45/2015 del Voluntariado). They rely on an insurance against the risk of accidents and illness directly linked to the volunteer action paid by the volunteering entity, and volunteers must be refunded all expenses incurred in when carrying on their activities.
The report the Social Action Third Sector: The Impact of the Crisis” (El Tercer Sector de Acción Social en 2015: el Impacto de la Crisis, 2015) states that, insurance, which is compulsory, was taken into account in 2013 by 87.5% of the entities. In these last few years the insurance coverage has become steadier, but this has not reached the whole sector. This is, without a doubt, bad news, as this coverage is a compulsory feature. The expenses refund remains steady although it suffers a slight decrease of 2 points from 2010, as roughly seven out of ten entities take it into consideration. And finally, the volunteering commitment or engagement is implemented in 75% maintaining the figure steady with regard to 2010.
Target groups
The mentioned Spanish law does not establish volunteering target groups and, as explained earlier, general legislation is applied. However, all measures, opportunities, exceptional nature matters, benefits, supports and rights foreseen in the applicable Spanish Legal System in force are to be applied to youth volunteering. Being “young and volunteer” is not incompatible with other activities carried out within the law, except for specific incompatibilities previewed in legislation.