Navarre launches the 1st Volunteering Week with 32 activities to bring volunteer action closer to the public
The Government of Navarre, together with the organisations that make up the volunteering ecosystem of the Chartered Community, will hold Navarre Volunteering Week in Pamplona / Iruña from 14 to 19 September. The initiative will bring together more than thirty activities aimed at raising the visibility of, recognising and promoting volunteer action, while also bringing the different existing participation opportunities closer to the public.
The First Vice President and Regional Minister for the Presidency and Equality, Javier Remírez, and Natalia Herce, Internal Coordination Officer at Medicus Mundi in Navarre, Aragon and Madrid, and Vice President of the Navarre Volunteering Council, presented this initiative today, Thursday. The initiative is an evolution of the two editions of the Volunteering Festival held in 2024 and 2025, incorporating the assessments and contributions made by the organisations themselves and other stakeholders linked to volunteering.
The Week will involve 18 organisations, which will contribute directly to a programme comprising more than thirty activities, including conferences, workshops, training activities, open days, meetings and online sessions. The activities will be open to volunteers, social organisations, public administrations, companies, educational centres and the general public.
Specifically, the participating organisations will be Medicus Mundi, Red Cross, Fundación Koine-Aequalitas, DYA Navarra, AECC Navarra, Saray, ADACEN, ANPHEB, Asociación Nuevo Futuro, ONG REMAR Navarra, FRIDA, Asociación SEI, ACT, Amnesty International, Lunes Lilas, FENIX Asociación, Sembrando Ilusiones-Payasos de Hospital and SETEM.
Remírez highlighted that “above all, this Week is intended as a tribute to the thousands of people in Navarre who choose to devote part of their time, skills and experience to others and to the common good. It is also an invitation to all citizens to discover that there are many ways to participate and engage with their communities.” He added: “Institutions can promote laws, plans, programmes and resources, but one person’s commitment to another arises from society itself, and that willingness to become involved and build community is an asset that we must recognise, nurture and continue strengthening.”
Herce, meanwhile, stated that “the Week will allow us to make visible for six days a reality that organisations experience 365 days a year and demonstrate that there is no single volunteer profile or single way of contributing. We want everyone to be able to come closer, get to know the organisations and discover where they can make a contribution, while also continuing to strengthen the organisations that make volunteering possible by providing them with training, tools and participation spaces that enable them to welcome and support volunteers ever more effectively.”
A human chain to close the Week
The main event and closing activity of the programme will take place on Saturday, 19 September, in El Bosquecillo, where social organisations, volunteers, public administrations and members of the public will form a volunteering human chain, conceived as a symbolic gesture of unity and recognition of the collective strength of volunteer action in Navarre.
The Week aims to become a landmark event for thanking volunteers for their contribution, showcasing the work carried out by organisations and bringing citizens closer to the different forms of participation available in areas such as social and socio-healthcare action, the environment, culture, education, sport, civil protection, development cooperation and community participation.
In addition, and as a new feature in 2026, a Volunteering Festival will also be held in Tudela in the coming months.
More than 4,600 people registered with ‘Navarra + Voluntaria’
Currently, ‘Navarra + Voluntaria’ brings together 215 registered organisations and offers 88 active volunteering programmes, 55 of which are carried out in Pamplona. The platform also has 4,638 registered users and provides access to volunteering opportunities tailored to different profiles, interests and levels of availability.
Likewise, the Interactive Map of Volunteering Organisations in Navarre currently includes 427 geolocated points corresponding to 377 organisations, some of which have offices in more than one municipality.
By administrative district, 306 of these points are located in Pamplona, 44 in Tudela, 38 in Sangüesa / Zangoza, 23 in Estella-Lizarra and 16 in Olite / Erriberri. This distribution helps bring participation opportunities closer to different areas of the Chartered Community and advance towards greater territorial cohesion in volunteering.
Interested citizens can consult organisations, programmes and participation opportunities through Navarra + Voluntaria.
An initiative framed within the III Volunteering Plan
Volunteering Week is part of the III Navarre Volunteering Plan 2024-2027, approved by agreement of the Government of Navarre on 13 March 2024. The document establishes 59 actions grouped into six strategic objectives and 16 lines of action and was developed through a collective co-creation process involving organisations, programme coordinators, volunteers and other stakeholders linked to volunteering.
The celebration takes on special significance in 2026, the International Year of Volunteers, and also coincides with the entry into force this year of the new Navarre Volunteering Regional Act.
Source: navarra.es
