From 18 to 22 November 2025, SAME organised the Intensive Training on Volunteer Management in Lübeck, Germany, bringing together 22 young people from 14 European countries. Participants came from Kosovo, Germany, Iceland, Georgia, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Moldova, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Belgium, representing both SAME member organisations and potential candidate organisations. This diversity gave the training a strong international dimension and created space to compare different volunteering cultures, organisational realities, and approaches to youth engagement across Europe.
The training was designed in the context of Solidarity Action Day and focused on how organisations can strengthen, renew, and improve their work with volunteers within SAD-related structures and campaigns. Through interactive workshops, practical exercises, and peer exchange, participants explored how to recruit, motivate, support, and coordinate volunteers more effectively, while also reflecting on how volunteer engagement can be made more meaningful and sustainable in the context of youth-led solidarity action. The main outputs of the activity were shared practices, practical tools, and action plans for improving volunteer engagement in connection with Solidarity Action Day. The main outcomes were increased confidence in working with volunteers, stronger organisational capacity, and new ideas for how to create more motivating, structured, and supportive volunteer environments around SAD implementation.
For participants, the training offered concrete approaches they could take back into their daily work and future SAD preparations. For the network as a whole, it helped strengthen a common understanding that strong volunteer structures are essential for the quality, continuity, and long-term impact of Solidarity Action Day across different national contexts.
