The European project EVEN (European Volunteering Engagement Network), funded by the European Union within the framework of the "Europe For Citizens Programme", held a joint meeting with the members of the project in the municipalities of Hernádkak and Gesztely, in northeastern Hungary. TOPS, also related to volunteering. With an extensive and very full agenda, a total of fifteen international delegations worked and enjoyed the hospitality of the hosts of this meeting. In addition to the Pedreguer City Council and the hosts, delegations from Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Malta, Slovakia, Greece and Serbia participated. All of them exchanged experiences on associationism and volunteering over four days, from the 12th to the 15th of January.
«Pedreguer had to be in a project that presents people as the backbone and as a stone of European social construction». This assessment expressed by the mayor, Sergi Ferrús Peris, who was accompanied by the Councilor for Solidarity, Ferran Lloret Morell, is a general sentiment of the entire Pedreguer government team and of those who have most directly participated in this project.
Pedreguer has been one of the main protagonists and has had the responsibility of organizing one of the main events of the project that took place barely three weeks ago and which was highly valued by the participants.
The focus of the project has been to deepen the debate on the role of volunteering in supporting small communities in a constantly changing world. Pedreguer has exposed the initiatives and local realities, and in this last meeting in Hungary conclusions were provided on the future of volunteering and the role of the local administration and a projection and planning was made for the following years from the union of institutions and associations.
There was also time to assess the important participation data. With around 500 direct participants and with around 70.000 indirect impacts, it is registered as one of the projects with a very significant impact. In addition, the segmentation of the project in inland areas makes the scope of the data in geographic dissemination extraordinary. Finally, 19 delegations from 17 countries have been the participants with main events in 5 countries, and one of them, as Ferrús points out, "has been our municipality that is beginning to be a member that participates, organizes and develops this type of of projects. From now on we will continue working for European funds with a resume and solvency that will make us gain competitiveness when it comes to accessing European funds of all kinds.
