- In 1985, the United Nations designated 5 December as International Volunteer Day.
International Volunteer Day (IVD) 2018, “Volunteers build Resilient Communities”, recognizes volunteers worldwide – with a special focus on local community volunteers – who contribute to making their communities more resilient against natural disasters, economic stresses and political shocks.
With over 6,270 participants in its Corporate Volunteer Programme in recent years, ACCIONA took the occasion to pay homage to everybody who is working for a better world and in favour of sustainable development.
ACCIONA's Volunteer Programme, whose initiatives are aligned with the company's Social Action Plan and are within the framework of the Sustainability Master Plan, is focused on promoting a culture of cooperation and solidarity so as to raise employees' awareness of the needs of other members of society. They are also aligned with achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) that were adopted in 2015 at the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit, in which the role of volunteers in achieving the goals is recognised specifically.
ACCIONA volunteers have clocked up over 50,300 hours of community service, and employee participation has increased each year in the different initiatives which have been launched. Among them we highlight:
Volunteer organized by acciona.org Foundation, which installs solar home systems to provide electricity in isolated rural communities in Cajamarca (Peru) and Oaxaca (Mexico) which cannot connect to the grid using traditional methods. More than 180 employees have participated as volunteers in recent years.
ACCIONA has celebrated seven editions of the ACCIONA’s Volunteer Day; to date, more than 3,500 volunteers have taught sustainability workshops to over 65,000 schoolchildren aged 6 to 10 in 24 countries, with the goal of giving them an entertaining insight into climate change, efficient use of water and energy, etc.
Another annual event in which ACCIONA's corporate volunteers participate is Let’s Donate?, a campaign to collect food for the Food Bank and where 460 ACCIONA’s employees have collaborated in order to help with the organization.
Another notable initiative, proposed by the Princess of Girona Foundation and Exit Foundation, seeks to improve the employability of young people from difficult environments; more than 200 volunteers from the Company have participated to date, as well as the volunteer work at Foundation Integra's Strengthening School to teach workshops to improve job prospects for people at risk of social exclusion, and the 'Inspiring Girls' programme, in which women visit schools to talk to girls aged 12 to 14 about their careers.
ACCIONA volunteers have also participated in initiatives in other countries such as Canada, Chile, Colombia, Brazil, Peru and Poland, among others.
Our thanks to everyone who participated!.