Pista Magica - Associação

Pista Mágica - Associação (PM) is the first and only Volunteering School in Portugal, and, over its 18 years of experience, it has become a well-known organization regarding training and production of knowledge relating to volunteering. This is seen by the creation and validation of innovative methodologies, in order to increase the effectiveness of volunteer management processes and ensure its impact on the community. With the pandemic bringing to their attention the urgent need to have volunteers on the field, they have reinvented their mission and objectives. With that, they started to work not only as an Education and Training service provider, but also as an organization ready to operationalize and manage volunteer programs. This with the field made them realize that volunteering is not accessible to everyone, such as people with disabilities, people with different mental health conditions, the elderly, migrants, and young people at risk. They were facing a situation in which the people who would benefit most from volunteering do not have access to it. Furthermore, these groups—who are often vulnerable to social exclusion—continue to be viewed primarily as recipients of care, rather than as active contributors to their communities. This perception limits recognition of their potential and reinforces patterns of dependency that inclusive volunteering aims to challenge. Volunteering is, by nature, a social activity capable of promoting well-being and happiness. Denying these benefits to people at risk of exclusion perpetuates the cycle of their multiple disadvantages. With that, Pista Mágica created the “Supported Volunteering Methodology”, which utilizes volunteering as a tool for social inclusion in 2022. Since then, it has been tested in more than 8 initiatives, reaching 485 beneficiaries across 9 municipalities, from north to south, including at-risk youth, people with disabilities, seniors, and those in need of mental health support. In some cases, it was prescribed by doctors (family physicians and psychiatrists). The results demonstrate significant gains in personal, social, and civic skills, as well as improvements in well-being, autonomy, self-esteem, life planning, and social inclusion. They are, therefore, the only Portuguese organization totally dedicated to: (1) training in the field of volunteering; (2) creating and implementing volunteer programs; (3) creating and implementing projects that utilize the “Supported Volunteering Methodology”. This links to the mission of the organization of “turning volunteering accessible to everyone through innovation”. Recently, the entity also took its first steps into advocacy work and is interested in reaching political actors to promote the utilization of volunteering in national and local policies. Due to its mission, the organization often cooperates with other organizations at a local, regional, national, and international level. At a local level, for example, they work in proximity with ISCAP, ESEPF, Catholic University, ISSP (higher education institutes); Profitecla (VET School), and Gondomar City Hall (government agency). At a regional level: Lisboa and Porto City Halls, AMP (Oporto Metropolitan Area), more than 20 other municipalities, and the north branch of IPDJ – Instituto Português do Desporto e Juventude, IP (Public Institute for sports and youth). At a national level: EAPN (Antipoverty European Network), Sector3 (NGO network), FNAJ (National Federation of youth associations); Portuguese Confederation of Volunteering; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Foundation), and IEFP (public institute for employment and professional training). At an international level, we can mention entities such as International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE), Global Network of Volunteering Leadership (GNVL), Centre for European Volunteering (CEV) and FORUM. In 18 years of existence, PM has participated in more than 21 projects at local, national, and international levels (they were the coordinators of the ones implemented at a national level, and were the coordinators of at least 2 implemented at a European level). They directly reached more than 42000 people. They have also published 21 books/manuals about volunteering and social action. Their team is composed of more than 16 staff members.