On 26 October 2023, in Turin, a capacity building meeting was hosted within the context of CESES' Senior Experts Nurturing Talent 2023 (SENT 2023) operating grant, co-funded by the European Union, and implemented by CESES network members in Italy. The meeting was held at SERMIG – Arsenal of Peace, a house for young people who are searching for a workshop of ideas, a space of meeting, culture, dialogue and self-growth.
In Italy there are about 350,000 volunteer organisations involving more than 6 million volunteers and 1 million employees. These impressive numbers have enabled and continue to enable projects aimed at the inclusion and the support of the most disadvantaged people.
Many senior Italian volunteer organisations including some MAB partners Volontari Senior Professionali, Volontariato Torino, and Seniores Italia Lazio OdV attended the event focused mainly on the volunteers in Europe, how organisations can better engage and support their volunteers, as well as the role mentoring can play in this.
Within this context, and with the aim of building the capacity of the CESES membership and beyond, the opportunity was offered to present and discuss the MAB methodology, particularly focusing on project partners sharing the knowledge and experiences gained through this project with other organisations, as well as the approach to mentoring, and how this could be applied to new contexts, target groups, and topics. This exchange not only highlighted potential areas for synergy between organisations and stakeholders, including local authorities who were invited to the event, but also helped to contribute to the wider discussions on Senior Expert Volunteering which took place.
