"The training for the volunteer activities is a possibility to innovate, correct and train. The movement of volunteers is increasing both because of the issue of people involved and because of the extension of the objectives and fields of action that are presented. And quantity is linked to the need for quality". This is the opinion of Aurora Bernal, coordinator of El volunteer activities: Education para la participación social, a book published by publishing house Ariel in which eleven professors from the University of Navarra write.

"We are still at the beginning of a process in which the programs of training of volunteer activities, which are not always given the weight they deserve, are being underpinned," said Professor Aurora Bernal, who pointed out that "for example, the absence of questions on training in the guide internship published by the UN to measure volunteer service is curious".

The content of this book, as its coordinator explains, involves thinking out loud about issues that directly affect volunteers: "It is about providing a range of reflections from various scientific disciplines, such as Education, sociology, psychology, ethics or geography."

In the first part of the book, the professors analyze volunteer activities as a question of solidarity. Ana Marta González (professor of Philosophy) exposes the discussion that originates the solidarity movement in civil society; on the other hand, Alfredo Rodríguez (director of department of Education) inquires about the changes that the volunteer undergoes in his task; and Concepción Naval (Vice President of Infrastructures and innovation in education) addresses those who plan educational programs for young people.

In the second part, the teachers reflect on some areas of volunteer activities: among others, Felisa Peralta (department of Education) analyzes the difficulties and potential of people with disabilities; Alban d'Entremont (director of department of Geography) writes about the phenomenon of immigration; and Jordi Puig i Baguer (professor of Zoology and Ecology) relates the environmental volunteer activities with the defense of human rights and freedom.

Annex on volunteer activities of young people

The book ends with an appendix in which Maria Elena Henriques Mueller, head of UNESCO's Youth Coordination Unit, emphasizes how volunteer activities for young people is an opportunity for them to train to become active and responsible members of society and, moreover, presupposes a learning process that serves them for their own lives.

In this sense, Aurora Bernal recalled that "the University Secretary of the UN has stated that the support offered by the volunteer activities in trying to transform society constitutes, above all, the promotion of values such as freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance or respect for nature. Solidarity permeates the body of our societies, and volunteer activities is one - though not the only one - of its main manifestations".