Vitalize Volunteer Work

Building Stronger Communities Together

About

Volunteering is at the heart of social life in rural areas. However, fewer and fewer people are taking on voluntary roles. Reasons for this include work pressures, a lack of successors and the integration of young people. This development affects many European villages and jeopardises the cohesion and resilience of rural regions.

The Vitalise Volunteer Work project aims to revitalise voluntary work. It pools expertise from Austria, Croatia, Finland and Germany, exchanging best practices and developing innovative solutions for the future of volunteering.

What we do

As part of an international project involving eleven LEADER regions from four European countries, we will be holding conferences in Finland, Croatia and Germany from 2025 to 2027, each attended by around 70 committed volunteers from all four countries. In addition to exciting workshops and discussions on current challenges and solutions in volunteer work, the conferences will offer excursions to successful local projects – for inspiration and practical insights.

The conferences provide new impetus for participants’ own work, promote international networking and exchange, and help to strengthen the resilience of rural communities.

Results

By the end of 2027, a toolbox of ideas with strategies for promoting volunteering will be created. All findings will be published in a final report – as a guide for other regions.

The first international conference will take place in Finland from 28 to 31 January 2026. Information about the conference programme and opportunities for conference participants to interact will be available on this website shortly.