Listening, accompanying, participating: Oviedo’s bid draws inspiration from local initiatives to build its volunteer network

The most ambitious projects do not always begin with grand gestures. Often, they grow from something much simpler: people who get involved, who listen, and who offer support. This idea lies at the heart of the volunteer programme that Oviedo’s bid aims to develop throughout 2026, making citizen participation one of the project’s central pillars.

To design it, the team has drawn inspiration from local social initiatives such as Teléfono de la Esperanza and Cáritas, which have spent years demonstrating the value of listening and accompaniment. These experiences have helped shape an understanding of volunteering not only as a way of contributing, but as a practice of collective care. Attention to people, training, and ongoing support are among the elements taken as references in building this model.

Volunteering is seen as a driver of social cohesion and a factor that contributes to emotional well-being and community health. It creates spaces for welcome and support that also act as an antidote to unwanted loneliness.

One of the key priorities will be caring for the volunteers themselves. The model being developed includes training programmes, meeting spaces, and activities designed to strengthen the group and foster the well-being of those who take part. Experience shows that supporting those who support others is essential if volunteering is to remain sustainable and rewarding.

Training will be another cornerstone. Volunteers will receive preparation tailored to different areas of participation, from welcoming audiences to cultural mediation or accompanying community activities. The aim is to provide practical tools, strengthen skills, and ensure meaningful experiences both for those who volunteer and for those who benefit from their work.

The programme will be developed in collaboration with organisations and networks already active in Asturias, including social and neighbourhood groups, foundations linked to sport, the educational community, and humanitarian organisations. Work will also take place with the European Youth Portal to facilitate the participation of European volunteers, reinforcing the project’s international dimension.

Another significant aspect will be intergenerational cultural mediation. Older people will play an active role in welcoming and accompanying visitors. To this end, they will receive specific training in contemporary culture and artistic mediation, with the aim of empowering them and making them key contributors to the project. The main goal is to ensure participation, broaden audiences, and strengthen citizens’ capacities.

Volunteers will also be involved in cultural programming from the outset, helping to ensure that the bid remains an open and shared process. The intention is for this network not to disappear once the process concludes, but to leave a lasting legacy, built on one of the territory’s greatest strengths: an active, supportive, resilient, and cohesive citizenry.

Because a cultural capital is not built only through major events, but through people who listen, who accompany, and who turn participation into a way of caring for the place where they live. Understood in this way, volunteering is also a form of culture—one that is not always visible, but that sustains everything else.