The Volunteering Metropolitan Academy is an initiative promoted by the Porto Metropolitan Area, with the purpose of boosting youth volunteering withing the 17 Municipalities that are part of the metropolitan territory.

During an intensive week, in residential format, 34 young people from the 17 municipalities of AMP are challenged to volunteer, knowing the challenges and problems in their communities, and putting their actions at the service of others.

This initiative, which has already had 3 editions, had as its main mission, to boost and promote volunteering at the level of the 17 municipalities of the territory, with a main focus on youth volunteering, thus giving the opportunity to experience the activity of volunteering during school breaks.

Through this project, young people are able to actively participate in real experiences of volunteering, developing a sense of belonging to the group and project, empathy among all of them, as well as among those who benefited from their care, building more supportive and proactive life models, while connecting with the reality of their communities, and developing important personal and interpersonal skills.

In the three editions of the Volunteering Metropolitan Academy, in addition to the training sessions inherent to the Programme, the 34 young people integrated differentiating volunteer activities in various municipalities of the AMP, in the scope of environmental protection, animal protection, protection of archaeological, cultural and forest heritage, education, social support and intergenerational solidarity.