ESC: Keep on volunteering, keep on with Europe!

The Insubria Volunteer Service Center is made up of 168 associations from the provinces of Varese and Como. CSV Insubria was born in 2018 when, following the new Third Sector Code, the Como CSV (Ass. Vol. Comasco) was incorporated into the Varese CSV (Cesvov). Since then, Csv Insubria is the juridical continuity. CSV Insubria has its registered office in Varese and operational offices in Varese and Como. Both original associations had been active since 2002 in the field of educational mobility projects and were accredited as coordinating, hosting and sending EVS organizations, from the Youth Program onwards. We adhere to CsvNet (national network of CSVs) and through it to CEV European Center of Volunteering. We work in synergy with local authorities and have agreements and collaboration protocols, with specific focus on social policies and youth policies with Provinces, Planning Offices, Municipalities, Courts and External Criminal Enforcement Offices, Schools, Universities. We are accredited as a third-tier body of the Civil Service and we are closing the process for the accreditation of the Universal Civil Service. We believe that the participation of citizens in the social contexts they inhabit represents an opportunity for individual growth and collective solidarity: through participation citizens exercise their skills, make new cohesive bonds, discover resources, develop ability to understand problems and increase social awareness, affect the living conditions of the communities themselves. Therefore, CSV's goal in the field of volunteering promotion is to build experiences that connect individual engagement activities to the social value they generate, to build supportive and cohesive communities. We work for set up, support and enhance citizens' participation experiences, enhance the learning generated through individual experiences, stimulate critical analysis of the contexts, methods and themes around which participation develops and how these are related to the experiences of traditional volunteering. General activities range from specialist consultancy to third sector bodies (administrative, legal, tax), to training (courses, seminars and conferences), from promotion of volunteering (local or international level, meetings in schools, events, parties, celebrations) to communication and dissemination activities. In support of active citizenship, we work on: interventions aimed at setting up meeting opportunities between targets of individual citizens (students, young people, adults, retirees, etc ...) and volunteer experiences, both in an informative and cognitive logic and in a concrete and stable form; information and guidance actions (notice boards, interviews, campaigns); school-volunteer projects; construction of matching supply / demand; preparation of internships and concrete experiences (including (former) EVS, civil service, restorative justice, etc ...). We estimate to reach 5,000 young people annually, including activities promoted directly and in which we participate as guests. In our multi-year program, the promotion of qualifying volunteering experiences, especially in the youth field, is a declared strategic objective. All the more so when they connect the promotion of the culture of solidarity and the value of volunteering with the needs of young people in terms of personal development, increased employability, leadership and civic participation. Therefore at the same time we support and qualify the third sector of the territory so that it plays an active role in the construction of territorial policies, favoring its activation also at a level open to influences and opportunities promoted by EU policies and programs. Since 2002, thanks to the CSV, the territories of Varese and Como with their young people and their associations (as well as in some cases local authorities) have experienced and benefited from the opportunities linked to European mobility actions, youth exchanges and actions to support the program. Hundreds of young people were involved, as well as dozens of associations offered their support, hospitality and came into contact with European experiences. These experiences have helped to bring an openness and an international outlook to local volunteering, offering the opportunity for intercultural and linguistic learning to volunteers and users of services and associations, bringing the European dimension closer to citizens and their needs. The European volunteers welcomed into our communities have brought experiences, knowledge, skills and dreams, which have been precious opportunities for comparison and growth both on the individual side and with respect to emerging issues in society: the stories that have crossed the sending and welcome, they gave us the opportunity to understand the effects of the great themes of our time.