Municipal groups: the balance between organised volunteering and administration
A webinar on the recent Directive providing guidelines on Municipal Groups took place at the Civil Protection Department
On 3 March, the Directive on "L'approvazione di un schema tipo contenente gli elementi fondamentali per la costituzione di Gruppi Comunali di volontariato di protezione civile" was published in the Official Gazette. Given the importance of the indications and the impact on territorial volunteering, a meeting for in-depth analysis and comparison took place at the headquarters of the Civil Protection Department on the morning of 1 June. The territorial Civil Protection organisations took part in the event, both in person and remotely.
The main purpose of the day was to explain the prerequisites for setting up a Municipal Civil Protection Group, in compliance with territorial specificities, and the guidelines for guaranteeing and ensuring an adequate and appropriate response of organised Civil Protection volunteering to Civil Protection activities and events.
The works were opened by the Head of the Department Fabrizio Curcio with these words "The day of confrontation comes at a significant time for the Civil Protection System. We wanted to keep this appointment despite the commitment in Emilia-Romagna. The System has made and is making an extraordinary effort in dealing with this event and the volunteers have provided, as always, an important contribution".
In the course of the morning, it emerged how the Directive can promote the coordination of the different territorial realities by offering territories that have not yet set up a municipal group a scheme to follow and providing new ideas to municipalities in which municipal groups are already operational.
Speakers involved in the webinar were the Director of the Department's Offices, Sisto Russo and Roberto Giarola, the President of the Territorial Commission, Dario Pasini, the Director General of the Third Sector Directorate - Ministry of Labour, Alessandro Lombardi, the Head of Civil Protection of Anci, Antonio Aragonesi, the Director of the Civil Protection Department of the Municipality of Rome, Giuseppe Napolitano, the Vice President of the Territorial Commission, Giovanni Naso, and the representative of the Civil Protection Unit of the Lombardy Region, Giovanni Caldiroli. The Mayors - players in this change - of Inveruno (MI), Arquata del Tronto (AP) and the Deputy Mayor of Mendatica (IM), together with the Head of Civil Protection of the Municipality of Potenza, took part in the closing round table of the meeting.