Official Statement
SUN 12.11.2023
FUNDACIÓN LALIGA and the Spanish Volunteering Platform, alongside the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, held a training session at the LALIGA headquarters today entitled "Sports Volunteering. Project funding and legal aspects".
The main aim of the session, directed at social and sports organisations that develop sports volunteering programmes, was to analyse the implementation of the sports volunteering programmes that have the greatest impact on the sector, and the legal framework based on the current regulations. Several presentations and roundtables were given, highlighting success stories which covered the complete process of setting up a volunteering programme, as well as the legal situation of the people involved in the activities within sporting organisations.
Clemente Villaverde, President of FUNDACIÓN LALIGA, was in charge of opening the conference, which was attended by more than 50 people. Mar Amate, Director of the Spanish Volunteering Platform, and Lucía García, Deputy Director General of the Voluntary Sector at the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030, explained the importance of developing such programmes.
Clemente Villaverde stated that "the three institutions decided to organise this conference in order to take a further step in the search for excellence in the management of sports volunteering programmes. We are aware of the day-to-day work of our foundations and clubs, and how the volunteering that takes place in the majority of our organisations must be subject to, and aligned with, the existing legal framework”.
In turn, Mar Amate stressed the importance of the conference because it means continued commitment to the expansion of sports volunteering in our country: “We find this to be a strategic activity for both the Platform and our partners in this initiative. Linking sport and volunteering, as we have been doing for years in the Values at Play project, helps to transform lives, to educate and spread principles starting from childhood that favour a more egalitarian world and a healthier society”.
Lucía García added that “sport has the capacity to empower people and improve their physical and mental health. By encouraging volunteering in this area, we are not only contributing to individual wellbeing, but also benefiting the health of our communities as a whole”.
The first roundtable was led by Pablo Benlloch, Doctor of Labour and Social Security Law at Rey Juan Carlos University, and Valentín García, labour lawyer and partner at law firm Cuatrecasas. The two focused their discussion on "the legal effects of malpractice in the recruitment of volunteers".
The day then focused on Sustainable Development Goal 5: “Achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls”. Begoña Ortiz de Urbina, Director of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, and Clara Sáinz de Baranda, Director of the Institute of Gender Studies, shared inspiring examples and good practices in the field of sports volunteering.
The main theme of the following forum was the analysis and presentation of public funding mechanisms available to social programmes and projects for sports foundations. It was conducted by Gabriella Civico, Director of the European Volunteering Centre; Lucía Díaz, Coordinator of the Volunteering Department at the ONCE Foundation; and Germán Argüelles, Director of the Real Sporting de Gijón Foundation.
Finally, to end the presentations, Laura Montero and Beatriz Cedena, Project Managers at the Spanish Volunteering Platform, tackled the various innovative strategies for the digital management of volunteering activities.
This training programme was developed within the framework of the "Values at Play" programme, which FUNDACIÓN LALIGA runs together with the Spanish Volunteering Platform, in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030.
© LALIGA - 2023