ESC: Promoting Participation and volunteering

The EDE Foundation is a non-profit organisation created in 1976, and its aim is the social, cultural and educational development of Bizkaia through the implementation of programmes and services that are designed for people and organisations that work in the field of social intervention. The EDE Foundation’s approach is based on a model that gathers, improves and shares “know-how” with associations and groups that perform social, cultural or educational activities; the target organisations with which it works. This allows it to maintain close and regular collaboration with them and to establish networks, a key element of social and community development. Furthermore, its desire for social change drives it to give preferential support to the promotion of groups that face exclusion or greater social disadvantage. This is all possible thanks to its independent criteria and the economic and managerial autonomy it enjoys. Since its inception, this way of doing things has guided its development, allowing it to incorporate people who are characterised by: shared responsibility, team work, commitment and reliability, creativity, participation and continuous improvement. The team consists of more than fifty professionals who specialise in training, consultancy and advice, information and documentation, management etc. All of these people combine their professional skills with expertise and a personal commitment to the various aspects of social intervention. In addition to the professional staff, over one hundred people work in collaboration as volunteers and are involved in teaching courses, seminars and other activities. Our activity: The EDE Foundation promotes the social, cultural and educational development of Bizkaia by providing training and social consultancy services for people, organisations and networks. • Training and guidance programmes for social action professionals and volunteers. • Consultancy, organisational support and development service. • Information, documentation and social studies services. • Career guidance and employment mediation service. • Research, reflection and dissemination activities. The services provided are divided into three main areas: - Training for social intervention - Social consultancy - Information, documentation and social studies We target: People and organisations that work in social, cultural and educational intervention, preferably from Bizkaia. • Professionals working in social management and intervention and people undergoing training. • Volunteers and people who want to be volunteers. • Also organisations from the third sector, public authorities, education centres… And with a particular focus on people and groups who face exclusion or are disadvantaged.