INTERGENERATIONAL VOLUNTEERING PROGRAMME

Volunteering CGU with Heritage in Forests GAL

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the Volunteers of the Compostela Group of Universities with the Heritage in Galician Forests is to mobilize the intergenerational community of the partner, associate and collaborating entities of the Compostela Group of Universities to educate, culturize and undertake volunteering actions related to the material and immaterial heritage of the Galician rural, articulated around the subjects of agri-food, environment and tourism, to achieve the following objectives:

    1. Promote ecologial transition.
    2. Contribute to territorial and social cohesion.
    3. Advance towards the digital transformation.
    4. Promote gender equality in the countryside.
    5. Project population growth in depressed areas.
    6. Promote interaction with the atlantic rural society.
    7. Increase the opportunities for sustainable, respectful tourism.

ORGANISER AND COLLABORATORS

The activity is organised by the Compostela Group of Universities, with the special collaboration of the entities Asociación Betula, EuroEume, Grupo Naturalista Hábitat, Rural-C, the City Council of Monfero and the University of Santiago de Compostela, and is sponsored by the Regional Ministery for Culture, Language and Youth of the Xunta de Galicia, in the frame of the Plan for Recovery, Transformation and Resilience financed by the European Union, NextGeneration EU, for the year 2025.

SPONSORING

COLLABORATING

DOWNLOAD POSTER (Galician version)

TARGET PARTICIPANTS

The call of the programme Volunteers of the Compostela Group of Universities with the Heritage in Galician Forests is open to people between 18 and 35 years old and older than 55 years, Galician and foreigners that are registered residents in the Autonomous Community of Galicia.

The programme is inclusive. It is open to participants with credited disabilities that can complete the programmed activities.

 

COVERAGE

The Compostela Group of Universities will cover the cost of the following for each participant:

  • Expenses (6 euros per complete volunteering day, being that a volunteering day is completed with 6 hours of volunteering work).
  • Overnight accomodations for those volunteers that can not return home in the same day.
  • Local transport from the gathering point in Monfero to the end points for the undertaking of volunteering tasks, and vice versa.
  • Any means considered necessary for the undertaking of volunteering tasks.
  • Participation in complementary activities that may take place.
  • Civil liability and accident insurance.
  • A training course on volunteering.
  • Workshops and mentorships.

It will be responsibility of the participants having medical coverage (public and/or private) for the complete duration of the volunteering period.

The beneficiaries must reach by their own means and resources the accorded meeting point in Monfero. The expenses of the round trip will be incurred by each participant. To facilitate their arrival and departure, the organising team will provide the necessary information and support to prepare the trip.

DATES AND PLACE OF IMPLEMENTATION

The volunteering actions will take place throughout 15 days, from 23rd September to 7th October 2025 (6 hours of volunteering maximum per volunteering day).

The activities will take place in the atlantic forest of the City Council of Monfero, Fragas do Eume and surroundings, in the province of A Coruña, in Galicia (Spain), focusing on sensible areas because of environmental, demographic or ecosystem-related risks.

The meeting point for every volunteering day will be the headquarters of the Asociación Betula in Maniños, whose location is available here.

The project will last from 1st January 2025 to 31st October 2025.

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the end of the volunteering period, the participant will receive a diploma of their activity as volunteer of the project Volunteers of the Compostela Group of Universities with the Heritage in Galician Forests, provided they have demonstrated the effective use of their participation and that they have completed their volunteering activity in a correct and satisfactory manner in line with the objectives of the volunteering programme.

The volunteering actions will be validated by the Rexistro de Accións Voluntarias of the Xunta de Galicia and with up to 3 elective credits (ECTS) from the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, provided that the formalities related to the participation required by both entities are fulfilled.

VOLUNTEERING ACTIONS

The volunteering actions will promote training and transfer of the intergenerational knowledge in the countryside by way of activities related to agri-food, environmental protection and tourism, such as:

  • Recovery of the atlantic forests of Galicia.
  • Identification of key locations for the potential set-up of meteorological stations.
  • Searching for hidden material heritage.
  • Identification of immaterial heritage related to the forests of Galicia.
  • Searching for opportunities in the Galician countryside related to the development of small businesses and enterprises.
  • Appreciation of sustainable ecosystems.
  • Participation in other cultural and social immersion activities.
    PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES

    VACANCIES

    The current call has up to 14 open volunteering vacancies. Of these, up to 7 vacancies are for people between 18 and 35 years, and up to 7 are for people older than 55 years.

     

    PRESENTATION OF APPLICATIONS

    To opt to the offered vacancies in the current call, the interested person must present the following documentation mandatorily:

    1. Application form, that must be filled online.
    2. Annex I to the application. Sworn affidavit, duly filled and signed. PDF and Word formats available.
    3. Scanned copy of all pages with information of the ID card or passport.

    Furthermore, they will provide, if it applies, the following documentation and/or merits:

    1. Accreditation of profile related to the volunteering actions (e.g.: social science studies, legal sciences, earth and sea sciences, environmental studies, tourism, managing and businesses; and/or, any other related via professional or vital experience different from undertaken studies).

    The deadline for the presentation of applications is 21st of June 2025 (12.00 PM UTC+2, mainland Spain time). EXTENDED throughout the first week of July.

    SWORN AFFIDAVIT (PDF FORMAT)
    SWORN AFFIDAVIT (WORD FORMAT)

    CALENDAR

    21st June 2025 (12.00 PM UTC+2, mainland Spain time) Due date of presentation of applications. Due date extended throughout the first week of July ———————— After 10 days, counting from the due date of presentation of applications. Publication of the selected candidacies. ———————— 10 days, counting from the publication of the selected candidacies. Due date of acceptance of vacancy. ———————— 23rd September – 7th October 2025 Volunteering action.  

    SELECTION CRITERIA

    • Level of Galician. Levels CELGA 1 and 2 or equivalent (1 point), levels CELGA 3 and 4 or equivalent (1,5 points) and level CELGA 5 or equivalent (2 points).
    • Previous experience in volunteering. Up to two activities (1 point) and more than two (2 points).
    • Belonging to associations or groups that pursue social or humanitarian interests. One association/group (1 point) and two or more (2 points).
    • Adaptation of profile to the volunteering actions. With little relation (1 point) and directly related (2 points).

    Besides the previously mentioned criteria, during the selection process other objective criteria will be considered, such as gender parity, inclusion of disabled people, parity of different age groups and geographical distribution.

    The solicitants must be registered residents in a Galician locality, and be registered or having solicited registration in the Rexistro de Acción Voluntaria de Galicia.

     

     

    PUBLISHING OF THE DECISION

    The list of selected people and substitutes will be published after 10 days, starting from the closing of the presentation of applications, in the web of the project’s promoting entity (www.gcompostela.org), and will be communicated to the collaborating entities.

    PRELIMINARY LIST OF SELECTED AND ALTERNATE CANDIDACIES

    GRANTING OF THE VACANCY AND FORMALISATION

    The chosen person must proceed to the formalisation of acceptance of the vacancy by means of sending to grupo.compostela@usc.es a declaration of acceptance and agreement of staying for the volunteering during fifteen days, according to the template that will be facilitated in the future.

    The chosen person will have a due date of 10 days to complete this step, counting from the date of publication of the resolution.

    After completing this step, the beneficiary will sign an individual volunteering agreement with the promoting entity CGU, in which the rights and duties of said beneficiary during the volunteering period, as well as the sanctions derived from infringement, will be laid down.

    If this documentation is not sent before the due date, the right to the vacancy will be understood tacitly declined, and the vacancy will be filled with a substitute person.

    GUIDELINES
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