VolontariaMENTE Summer!
VolontariaMENTE Estate! offers students enrolled on Luiss Guido Carli's Bachelor's, Master's, and Single-Cycle Master's degree programmes the chance to engage in a volunteering experience that is highly valuable from an educational, human, and social perspective.
The Programme focuses on volunteering initiatives that take place in July and involves students in volunteer camps and structured experiences organised by Luiss's partner associations across the country.
Through these experiences, students have the opportunity to engage with organisations that work daily to support people, communities, and the environment. They can put their skills to practical use and develop new ones in real-world settings.
VolontariaMENTE Estate! offers a valuable opportunity for experiential learning, enabling students to embark on a journey of personal and civic growth. The activities on offer address the specific needs of partner organisations and the communities they serve, encouraging direct and responsible involvement.
The Programme aims to help students develop greater social awareness, encouraging them to understand the needs of others and actively contribute to finding solutions through authentic, real-life experiences. Throughout the programme, students will have the opportunity to apply their knowledge and transferable skills, while also reinforcing core values such as solidarity, respect, inclusion, legality, social justice, and environmental protection.
The activities are arranged directly with the partner association and scheduled for July.
Below, you'll find all the information about the Programme, a list of participating partner associations, and how to take part.
General Rules
- Before the activities begin, there is a mandatory pre-departure meeting for all participants. During this meeting, they will receive all the organisational and logistical information about the summer volunteering activities.
- For each of the proposed activities, University Credits (CFU) will be awarded under the “Other Activities” section of the study plan. When completing the study plan, you will therefore need to select Code SJ1 to obtain credits for this type of activity. However, you can still join even if you don't request credit recognition.
For the University Credits (CFU) to be recognised, you must have participated in all the activities of the chosen initiative for the entire period, adhering to the stipulated number of hours. Additionally, a representative from the non-profit organisation must certify your actual participation in the activity, and each student must submit a report and complete a questionnaire regarding the activities undertaken.
- There is a maximum number of students for each activity, and participants will be selected based on the order in which they register. However, for certain activities, the associations and Luiss may reserve the right to meet with registered students to verify their genuine motivation.
- For some of the activities, a preliminary interview with the partner will be required. If the interview reveals any incompatibilities, volunteers will be directed to other activities that are still available.
Partner List
The Binario 95 centre, managed by the social cooperative Europe Consulting ONLUS, was established at Rome's Termini Station. It primarily serves homeless people in the area, offering inclusion projects for guests who are pushed to the margins of society due to various forms of hardship. The centre provides them with a pathway of welcome, integration, and conviviality.
Casa della Mamma is an association that, since 1969, has been providing support to young mothers facing social and economic challenges, along with their children. The educators, social workers, psychologists, and qualified volunteers who work at Casa della Mamma recreate the emotional warmth of a family, enhanced by their specialist knowledge. They aim to nurture in the young women that deep, yet responsible, love which we increasingly notice is strikingly absent when they first arrive.
The social cooperative CivicoZero Onlus partners with Save the Children in a project aimed at unaccompanied foreign minors and young adults in Italy. The initiative is delivered by a multidisciplinary team at a day centre. Here, minors and young adults aged 15 to 21 receive support through basic services, protection, and guidance on their rights, skills, and opportunities. This enables them to fully exercise their rights and build their own path to personal growth and integration.
The Community of Sant'Egidio is a Christian community founded in 1968, in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council, on the initiative of Andrea Riccardi, in a secondary school in central Rome. Over the years, it has grown into a network of communities with a particular focus on disadvantaged areas and their residents. In over 70 countries worldwide, it welcomes men and women of all ages and backgrounds, united by a bond of fraternity in their voluntary and unpaid commitment to the poor and to peace.
The Italian Red Cross, founded on 15 June 1864, is a non-profit association that operates in accordance with the Geneva Conventions. Due to its nationwide territorial structure, the Italian Red Cross qualifies as a “national associative network”. The Municipalities 2-3 Committee of Rome is one of the local branches of the Italian Red Cross, operating in the aforementioned municipalities of Rome. The main objective of the Italian Red Cross is to prevent and alleviate suffering impartially, without distinction of nationality, race, sex, religious belief, language, social class, or political opinion, thereby contributing to the preservation and promotion of human dignity and a culture of non-violence and peace.
Dynamo Camp offers free Recreational Therapy programmes to children and young people with serious or chronic conditions, as well as to their siblings and families, with the support of qualified staff. Activities take place both at the Camp and through the Dynamo Programs project, which brings workshops and recreational initiatives to hospitals and foster homes across the country. The association also promotes the spread of Recreational Therapy through research, training, awareness-raising, and fundraising activities.
The Lene Thun ETS Foundation, active since 2006, provides free ceramic therapy workshops in the paediatric wards of over 30 Italian hospitals, bringing creativity and relief to children with serious and chronic illnesses. By shaping clay, young patients can express their emotions, spark their imagination, and find moments of calm during their treatment. The workshops, led by skilled ceramists and volunteers, provide a space for sharing and offer tangible support to families. Volunteers who take part will also have the opportunity to contribute to a large-scale national project that will bring together all the children’s creations in a single collective installation, open to the public and serving as a symbol of inclusion, hope, and shared creativity.
The Ronald McDonald Children’s Foundation is a non-profit organisation dedicated to providing a welcoming environment and support for the families of hospitalised patients who need to travel away from home for treatment. They have been active in Italy since 1999 and globally since 1974, when the first Ronald House was established in America. Casa Ronald Palidoro is located within the Bambino Gesù hospital complex. With 33 rooms and common areas, it provides accommodation for parents and patients undergoing treatment.
IBO Italia is a Christian-inspired Civil Society Organisation (CSO) and ODV-ETS (Voluntary Organisations and Third Sector Entities) engaged in international cooperation and volunteering in Italy and around the world. Legally, it is a Voluntary Organisation and a Third Sector Entity. Its work focuses on education, training, and learning. Above all, it has a distinctive feature as an NGO: it is deeply committed to engaging young people in volunteer opportunities in Italy and around the world, whether for a few weeks or a full year. That's why it focuses its activities on solidarity and international cooperation, and why it invites young people to join them, to share their enthusiasm and commitment to this cause, so that together we can build a world that is more equitable, just, and sustainable.
Legambiente is a voluntary organisation founded in 1980, dedicated to protecting the environment and biodiversity and promoting sustainable development. Since its foundation, it has stood out for its approach to science-based environmentalism, basing its campaigns and initiatives on scientific data and analysis with the aim of proposing concrete and sustainable solutions to key environmental challenges. Through volunteering, awareness-raising, environmental education, and active citizenship, Legambiente promotes the protection of the local area and community engagement on a daily basis.
Le Orecchiette che Vorrei is a project by the Yuri Benefit Corporation, born from the love of a father, Giuseppe Primicerio, for his son Yuri and for all children with autism. The goal? To create a therapeutic, empowering workshop where young people and adults with autism learn to make orecchiette and other types of fresh pasta.
Libera is a network of associations, social cooperatives, schools, movements, trade unions, dioceses, parishes, and scout groups that promotes civic engagement in the fight against mafias, corruption, and all forms of organised crime, while fostering a culture of legality and social justice. Volunteer activities include caring for and enhancing assets confiscated from organised crime groups, working on confiscated land, and participating in training and discussions with family members of innocent victims of organised crime, judges, representatives of institutions, entrepreneurs, and experts in the field.
Made in Carcere is an association that promotes the social and professional inclusion of women in prison through a circular economy model based on the principle of a “Second Chance” for people and a “Double Life” for fabrics. Since 2007, it has been crafting bags, accessories, and other items from recycled materials, blending environmental sustainability, creativity, and social responsibility. Volunteers can support the association's commercial and communication activities, helping to promote the project, as well as assisting staff with production and fabric cutting.
San Patrignano is a living community that welcomes those affected by addiction and marginalisation, helping them rediscover their path through a journey of recovery that is, above all, a journey of love. Free, because love is a gift. It's a journey that also involves giving to others, helping younger people avoid making the same mistakes. It offers a new lease of life to the families of those who are suffering, who find comfort and support through the expert and reliable guidance of the Community and its volunteers. It's a commitment to a better society through numerous prevention projects. San Patrignano reaches out to the wider community in pursuit of the common good through targeted activities in schools, international in-depth events, and specific, wide-ranging programmes, all as part of its relentless fight against addiction.
Save the Children is the world's largest organisation, which for over 100 years has been fighting to save children at risk and ensure they have a future. The organisation’s mission is to drive significant improvements in the way the world treats children and to bring about immediate and lasting change in their lives.
Susan G. Komen Italia is a volunteer-led organisation at the forefront of the fight against breast cancer across the country. It was founded in Rome in 2000 as the first European affiliate of Susan G. Komen in Dallas. The Association’s mission is to promote prevention, support women facing the disease, improve the quality of care, and strengthen clinical facilities.
UNICEF is the United Nations Children’s Fund. Their mission is to contribute to the survival, protection, and development of the potential of every child, with a special focus on the most fragile and vulnerable. What makes UNICEF Italy unique is that it is both a non-governmental organisation (NGO) within Italy’s Third Sector and a representative of an intergovernmental programme of the United Nations.
