The Stati Generali del Volontariato di Protezione Civile 2022 have started today

The Stati Generali del Volontariato di Protezione Civile 2022 have started today, in Rome with more than 3,000 delegates.

At the opening event, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, together with the Head of the Civil Protection Department, the highest institutional and state officials, the Presidents of national organizations, regional referents, representatives of components and operational structures.

"The involvement of new generations, the spread of the culture of civil protection, the protection of the environment as a consequence of the climate change and the social changes inevitably related to it, the construction of a community conscious of the risks of the territory that surrounds it."

These are the challenges outlined in the intervention of the Head of the Department Fabrizio Curcio, that volunteers, and the whole Civil Protection System, will have to face in the next few years.

"The future is together," is the claim of the 2022 edition. It highlights the importance of working together after the difficult years of the Covid-19 health emergency, but also the need to address the priorities of volunteering.

A call even more significant this year, 2022, which has a highly symbolic value for Italian civil protection, forty years after the establishment of the Department, thirty since the establishment of the National Service and ten since the last edition of the Stati Generali del Volontariato.

The opening day involved speeches by Mario De Nonno, Dean of the University of Roma Tre; Dario Pasini, President of the National Committee of Civil Protection Volunteers; Massimiliano Fedriga, President of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces; and Roberto Garofoli, Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers.
Two civil protection volunteers - Flavia Moro, from the Bollate Emergency Operations Team and Francesca Ponzalino, from Psicologi per i Popoli - brought their testimonies about the " I don't take risks" communication campaign and the humanitarian emergency resulting from the conflict in Ukraine.
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella closed the works by addressing his greetings to the participants. "Volunteering is a vocation, an impulse, a commitment a free choice, and it best expresses the fundamental values of the Article 2 of our constitutional charter".
The Head of State then addressed these words to all: "I am here today just to thank you, to thank the Civil Protection, the Head of the Department and the volunteers gathered in the National Committee for what has been done, what is being done, what will be done with your commitment. Thank you for what you do, best wishes."