University students from Navarra, winners of the XI University Awards of the Mutua Madrileña Foundation volunteer activities

The project of volunteer activities "Elimu Kwa Wote", in which 13 students from the University of Navarra and the University of Zaragoza collaborate, together with association Children of Africa, has obtained a second prize award, endowed with 5,000 euros, in the XI edition of the Awards to the volunteer activities University, granted by the Mutua Madrileña Foundation.

The goal of the program is to contribute to improving the quality of teaching in a rural Kenyan village through the expansion of a primary school high school with the construction of three new classrooms.

Thanks to these new resources, it will be possible to reduce the ratio of students per class (currently 206 children study at high school ) and improve the Degree learning of students to reduce the rate of withdrawal school. The volunteers, who travel to the country during the summer period, provide support in different tasks such as logistics, construction, support educational and entertainment, among others.

An edition that almost doubled the participation

goal The Mutua Madrileña Foundation's University volunteer activities Awards were created eleven years ago with the aim of recognizing, supporting and promote the solidarity work of young university students who collaborate in initiatives at volunteer activities. In this eleventh edition, 93 projects involving more than 6,000 students studying at 68 Spanish universities have competed. These projects are carried out at partnership with 72 NGOs and directly benefit more than 2.5 million people.

50,000 euros in prizes

Among all the projects presented, the Mutua Madrileña Foundation has selected 8 initiatives that have received a total of 50,000 euros (15,000 euros for the winner, 5,000 euros for the other 6 finalists and 5,000 euros for the distinguished initiative in the Solidarity University category) to reinvest in the projects themselves.

The first award went to project "Aura Hábitat, convivencia en la diversidad", promoted by Aura Fundación and several students from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Universitat Ramon Llull and Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. This is a program in which volunteers live with young people with intellectual disabilities to help improve their autonomy and facilitate their independence outside the family environment.

volunteer activities university regains its dynamism

After the decline experienced as a result of the pandemic and the interruption of the class activity, the vocation of solidarity is gaining followers among university students for the second consecutive year. According to the XI Study on University volunteer activities , during the 2022/2023 academic year, a total of 19,460 students participated in volunteer activities actions through their university, which is 13% more than the previous year.

Universities, for their part, undertook more than 2,100 volunteer activities initiatives last year, of which 32% were newly created and, of the total, 60% were undertaken in conjunction with an NGO.