CEV member organisations

Italy: Spes (Centro di Servizio per il Volontariato del Lazio) (Full member )

Contact information

Spes (Centro di Servizio per il Volontariato del Lazio)
President: Renzo Razzano
Via dei Mille, 6
00185 Roma
Italy

Tel: +39 06 44702178
Fax: +39 06 44700229

Email: infospes[at]spes.lazio.it
Website: www.volontariato.lazio.it

Member information

Spes - Centro di Servizio per il Volontariato del Lazio - is one of two centres for the promotion and qualification of voluntary work in the Italian Lazio region. Like its peers in other regions (altogether 54 in Italy), it formally originates from the national law which outlines the rules governing the institutional structure, the modes of relationship with local governments and the management of voluntary organisations (Legge 266/1991). It is a founding member of the national league of Italian service centres for voluntary organisations.

Spes came to life in 1998, when seven major federations of voluntary organisations obtained the funding and the formal approval to launch the Centre in Rome and Lazio. The funds, also defined by the 1991 law and equal to a fifteenth of local bank foundations net revenues, are granted on a yearly basis upon presentation of the plan of services and activities.

Spes is organised on a proximity basis: the central management and counselling nucleus operates through fifteen local centres with different characteristics of continuity and complexity, some managed together with the other regional centre. The nineteen municipalities of Rome (altogether 3 million inhabitants, plus 1.5 million daily commuters), account for more than one half of associations and services. Head voluntary centres of the four Lazio provinces independently organise events and training courses, and develop projects in close collaboration with associations. The final aim is to better the performance of voluntary organisations, in particular the smaller ones and those from under-developed areas.

To voluntary organisations of the Lazio region, Spes offers a wide range of standard activities aimed at:

• management simplification in observance of laws and regulations.  Legal and administrative counselling remaining the first and foremost necessity, and the recently introduced accounting service is quickly becoming one of the most appreciated and enduring activities
  
• quality improvement through better communication. The new web portal is turning into a crossroads of up-to-date information and simple management tools. The next ambition is to create new ways of involving the wider public in voluntary and civic issues
  
• empowerment of human resources, both voluntary and professional help in developing thematic and micro territory circuits.  Courses and targeted training programs constitute the basis for fostering a stronger impact in addressing social problems and potential.

Innovative actions recently undertaken are centred on youth involvement, participation in determining local social policies and European trans-national collaboration.