In 2013 European Year of Citizens, CEV launched the European Volunteering Capital Competition to promote and develop volunteering at the local level.
The first winner of the competition to be awarded the title European Volunteering Capital in 2014 was Barcelona, followed by Lisbon European Volunteering Capital 2015, London European Volunteering Capital 2016, Sligo European Volunteering Capital 2017, Aarhus European Volunteering Capital 2018, Košice European Volunteering Capital 2019, Padova European Volunteering Capital 2020 and Berlin European Volunteering Capital 2021.
The 4 candidate municipalities for European Volunteering Capital 2022 title are: Gdansk (PL), Gorizia (IT), Izmir (TR), & Madrid (ES).
As candidates, they join the “European Volunteering Capital Candidates Community”(EVCCC), a unique Community of Practice of municipalities (and other levels of local and regional authorities) that have expertise in, and a shared concern for, strengthening, inspiring and celebrating VOLUNTEERING and SOLIDARITY.
The candidates will gain European-wide visibility for excellence in policies and programmes that support volunteers and volunteering regarding existing practices, and for ambitious, credible and quality-focused plans for future growth and development in the field of volunteering. They will play a key role in motivating, inspiring and encouraging other municipalities to improve their provision of supportive and facilitatory policies and programmes for quality volunteering.
The deadline for applications for the European Volunteering Capital 2022 was on 22nd June. The information provided in the application form and video will count as 75% of the final score allocated to each candidate. 25% of the score will be allocated based on the presentation of the candidature during the Candidates Reception organised by CEV and hosted by Padova (European Volunteering Capital 2020) on 22 October 2020 in Italy.
The jury of key personalities connected with volunteering, representing civil society, the private and for-profit sector, as well as the EU institutions, will assess the candidatures. The judging criteria is based on the recommendations in the Policy Agenda for Volunteering in Europe (PAVE) the 5R policy priorities as identified in PAVE 5 year review “Helping Hands” & the CEV Volunteering Policy Statements. How the European Solidarity Corps will be supported and promoted is also part of the criteria. The winner will be announced in Padova, Italy on December 5th, International Volunteer’s Day 2020.
The European Volunteer Centre (CEV) is the European network of over 60 organisations dedicated to the promotion of, and support to, volunteers and volunteering in Europe at European, national or regional level. Our mission is to provide collaborative leadership to create an enabling environment for volunteering in Europe. Through our network we work together to promote and support volunteering through advocacy, knowledge sharing and capacity building & training. In this way we reach out to the many thousands of volunteers and volunteer organisations in Europe as a source of support bringing the European dimension to their work.
