Pasos Solidarios: our social action

Global alliances: we walk together

We are committed to networking in order to generate synergies between the agents that drive social change: companies, NGOs, public organizations … locally, nationally, at a european level and internationally.

From Voluntariado y Estrategia we coordinate Voluntare, we are members of the board of directors of Volonteurope and we participate in Points of Lights, Global ProBono Network and IAVE, as experts corporate volunteering with social impact and skills development. Collaborating we learn, share and improve, providing more value in everything we intend.

Corporate volunteering with social impact

Over the last decade, as Voluntare coordinators, the largest international network for the promotion of corporate volunteering of the Spanish speaking community, we are part of the launch and consolidation of this formula of collaboration between companies and NGO’s in Spain as well as in South America. On the way, we have created and boosted spaces for exchange, reflection and dialogue. Thus, we have generated and diffused knowledge and innovation to improve the impact of corporate volunteering. The alliance with Volonteurope, since 2020, expands our global presence and strengthens our reach.

We have guided and continue accompanying numerous companies and NGO’s from the design and implementation of their corporate volunteering programs to their evaluation and continuous improvement.

In 2020 we take another step: we enrol on HandsOn Spain, together with the FDI Foundation, to bring to Spain the Points of Light formula that already over more than 2 million volunteers every year in 37 countries. We put all our expertise to offer companies of all sizes a guided process supported by customizable and self-managing tools.

Vulnerable groups employability

Pasos Solidarios develops programs focused on improving the employability of vulnerable groups through their connection with corporate volunteering.

We take advantage of the knowledge, experience and direct contact of the volunteers with the business world in order to improve the access to employment for the colectives we work for.

Specially:

Young people at risk of dropping out of school.
Long-term unemployed people.
Prison and ex-prison population.

Projects in Spain

At a national level, we have collaborated in the launching of projects such as:

VOL +, together with Plataforma del Voluntariado de España: a tool that improves the employability of volunteers. It recognizes the influence of volunteering in developping their skills and draws attention to labor market.

Reconoce, together with Confederación de Centros Juveniles Don Bosco in collaboration with Federación Didania y ASDE Scouts de España: an online tool that confirms volunteering experience.

European projects

Projects such as “United for Youth”, financed by the European Union Erasmus + program, together with three other organizations from the Netherlands (Samen voor Eindhoven), Lithuania (Socialinis Veiksmas) and Ukraine (East Europe foundation) focused on volunteering.

Through this project, we have gathered evidences based on corporate volunteering for companies and organizations such as it favors the retention of young employees in the company, increases their engagement and helps their development as human capital in the labor market.

Internationals

Together with the United Nations, we have developed a methodology that identifies and certifies the skills that volunteers have gained to formally recognize their learning and support their employability.

It is an informal but very effective learning because it is caused by living a intense experience. Certificating it through methodology allows identifying different skills and measuring the progress achieved.

On the other hand, this certification recognizes both the work carried out and the personal growth of volunteers.