MASÈ (LA CIVICA) * TRENTINO – VOLUNTEER WORK: «A NEW LAW IS NECESSARY TO BUILD NEW PERSPECTIVES»

18.01 – Sunday 2 June 2024

Dear director Franceschi,

I attach what was published today in the newspaper “l’Adige”, also to allow the readers of Opinione to view it.

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Vanessa Masè

Council of the Autonomous Province of Trento (La Civica)

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Volunteering: a new law to build new perspectives. Talking about volunteering in Trentino may appear simple and, at a superficial glance, almost obvious. This is because the volunteers, and with them the associations or Third Sector bodies in which they work, are so well integrated into the living fabric of our Province and so constantly active that they appear to be normal.

We all know, however, how exceptional the precious work they carry out is and how much their actions act as a social glue, helping to keep communities and countries together, also reaffirming traditions and those bonds of mutual help and proximity that elsewhere appear to be in crisis. or they have already disappeared.

In my role as councilor I have had, and still have, the fortune of being able to deal with many volunteering organisations; therefore, I thought it appropriate to intervene not only in the debate that the choice of Trento as the European capital of Volunteering for 2024 has contributed to reactivating on the need to improve and give perspective to our entire third sector, but also to bring the many reports of volunteers with which I confronted at a higher level of utility, preparing a specific bill, simple but I believe and hope incisive, capable of updating, expanding and strengthening the entire provincial third sector as a whole.

In the planning, medium-long term thinking was taken into account, ideally highlighting a leap towards the future of volunteering which is not dropped from above, but rather designed together with the Trentino territories and actors, with an eye beyond our Autonomous Province towards the regional and euro-regional level. In fact, we need to operate with tangible actions, taking ever more active care of volunteering with volunteering and to listen and operate in synergy with as many realities as possible, always leaving the discussion with the territories open.

Often, in fact, the risk for those who act as legislators is to think about the law and its effectiveness, leaving out, certainly unintentionally, “touching first-hand” the territories and their needs which instead is always very good to keep in mind to understand moods, sensitivities , changes and real needs. Precisely for this reason, we chose to start, literally, from the origins, calling into question the Pro loco, the small associations and the representatives of the collective domains present in the provincial territory. Realities such as, for example, Asuc, Magnifiche Comunità, Consortele, Regole, which belong to many communities and are true millennial cradles of self-management, cohesion, sociability, protection and care of the territory.

These are ancient experiences from which to start, relaunching those principles and that sense of unity and belonging that makes Trentino social bonds an effective and always necessary and current basis of mutuality and closeness to others. Reading the bill you can see how it certainly has ideal but also, and above all, practical implications, not going, by choice, to overturn the existing – but to modernize it, supporting the work of the Third Sector associations starting by meticulous listening, which reflects the widespread presence of thousands of associations present in every valley, and by proposing an intelligent and strategic use of Autonomy applied to volunteering.

Therefore, on the one hand involvement and participation are guaranteed and on the other a bureaucratic simplification is pursued so as not to burden the volunteers’ action too much which often risks being severely hampered by obligations and the production of excessive documentation, and the need to proceed is underlined to co-planning and co-programming actions between the Provincial Authority and the world of volunteering at various levels. Active citizenship, the valorization of local authorities at all levels and the fruitful comparison in terms of vision, cooperation and synergy with the autonomous Province of Bolzano are stimulated and supported.

The relationship with Bolzano – and with Tyrol – from a supra-provincial perspective and at the level of the European Region, underlines the important, in my opinion, desire to recognize and promote also in Trentino the good practices implemented by our neighbors by exporting ours, with the aim the last of a shared parallel growth.

Likewise, on the internal side, we look with extreme attention at the existing relationship between the Province, the city of Trento, the Valle communities and the Municipalities, hoping for the emergence of territorial protagonisms in a network of exchange and profitable cooperation with the Center for Volunteer Services. The aim is to increasingly characterize the Autonomous Province of Trento as a safe haven for the varied galaxy of provincial associations. This is the reason why, as can be seen from the text of the proposed law, voluntary activities are defined as all those services provided by citizens on a continuous basis, without profit, through personal, voluntary and free services, individually or in groups, carried out on the provincial territory, also through the organization of which the volunteer is part, for the pursuit of social, civil and cultural purposes even if not registered in the single register of the Third Sector. This possibility was opted for because it is necessary to protect all expressions of volunteering – even the smallest and least equipped – with the aim of keeping alive an associative fabric, even a micro one, which has always characterized the resilient sociality of the mountain reality. There is no event or demonstration in Trentino in which volunteering does not play an active part, weaving experiences and people into the organization; Environmental volunteering (hunters, plastic free) social (volunteers in retirement homes, distribution of meals or accompaniment of people with disabilities) cultural (amateur drama, choirs, bands) healthcare, without neglecting VVFF volunteers, cloud or carabinieri on leave just to give a few examples .

The perspective is, and must be, that of the inclusion of experiences and results in a continuous work of improvement and growth, also reflected in the desire to establish the Permanent Council of the Third Sector and convene the Provincial Volunteering Assembly every two years always open also to Alto Adige. In conclusion, the proposal that I am putting forward and which I hope will also meet the interest of my fellow councilors is that of integrating the support and promotion of the third sector in Trentino, valorising as much as possible what is already excellent and dynamically opening up to the many development possibilities that are already clearly visible.