To local development also through volunteering. Case study: voluntering at the UGR

TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR TO LOCAL DEVELOPOMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR. María Egea Hernández, Juan Carlos Maroto Martos y Aida Pinos Navarrete. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Book coordination. María Egea Hernández, Juan Carlos Maroto Martos y Aida Pinos Navarrete. Layout: Agustín Fernández Navarro Front and back cover photos: Juan Carlos Maroto, Fernando López Martínez y Álvaro Romero Hidalgo © Editorial University of Granada © of this edition: Vicerrectorado de Igualdad, Inclusión y Sostenibilidad (VIIS) © of the texts: The authors themselves. ISBN: 978-84-338-7197-8 Edit: UGR Solidaria (VIIS). Cuesta del Hospicio s/n Universidad de Granada. 18071 Granada (España) TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Table of contents PROLOGUE ...............................................................................................................................................................................................6 INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN VOLUNTARY WORK AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA .............. 7 BEGGING IN GRANADA: GEOLOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT SITUATION ...................................................................48 We need you!!! ....................................................................................................................................................................................60 TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR PROLOGUE This book, which has been financed by the Regional Government of Andalusia and Granada University, contains two research papers exploring the relationship between voluntary work and local development. The aim is to encourage Granada University’s English-speaking community to get involved in voluntary work through UGR Solidaria, the voluntary work scheme run by the ViceRectorate of Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability. The purpose of this book is to encourage you to find out more about volunteering and local development, to put the “learning-service” method into practice and to try the voluntary work experience. If you decide to embark on this adventure, you will soon discover that you will learn a great deal about yourself and the real world around you; you will witness first-hand how your work makes other peoples’ lives better, you will acquire skills of enormous value for your own life and your future professional career and above all, you will be happier. This book was co-authored by: María Egea, a Granada University student with volunteering experience, who did her Final Year Project on UGR Solidaria; Aida Pinos, a lecturer at the University, who did her Degree course practical work at UGR Solidaria, and since then has been collaborating continuously with this Scheme; and finally, Juan Carlos Maroto, a Granada University Professor who specializes in territorial development, has experience in volunteering and is responsible for voluntary work at the UGR. In Granada, at the start of what we hope will be an exciting, fruitful 2023. The authors TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN VOLUNTARY WORK AND LOCAL DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA María Egea Hernández, Juan Carlos Maroto Martos and Aida Pinos Navarrete [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 1. INTRODUCTION Voluntary work is generally regarded as a well-established phenomenon of modern society, which today is growing fast (Ballesteros, 2021). There is a great deal of evidence to show that throughout history, people have acted completely selflessly to try to solve the problems faced by their fellow men and women. (Maroto et al, 2020). Within this context, the voluntary work done by local actors to promote the social, economic and environmental development of different local communities remains of great importance. These actors have become an essential source of immediate solutions for problems of varying magnitude (Ortiz, 2016). Research studies that analyse the effects of voluntary work on society are essential. However, given the enormous amount of voluntary work being done to promote both local and international development, it is surprising how little research has been done in this field. The main actors in the voluntary sector include, first of all, the huge number of non-profit organizations, associations and foundations (often referred to as the Third Sector or the Social Economy Sector) which try to ensure that the economy works for the benefit of society and the people who live within it (Maroto & Barrera, 2018). In Spain, the rapid growth in the number of these organizations highlighted the need for volunteers and attracted the interest of the public authorities, as manifested in the creation of a legal framework for voluntary work and the design of specific strategic plans at different levels. To this end, the first Law on Volunteering was passed in 1996 and was updated with a new law (Law 45/2015, of 14th October) almost twenty years later in 2015. Increasing interest in voluntary work is also being shown by the public and private sector and by the business world in general. Companies are increasingly aware of the effects that their business activities can have on the territory and on society and as a result are invoking their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and incorporating into it into their business models. This creates an added social value that enables them to enhance the society and the environment in which they operate (Mora & Martínez, 2018). Finally, the State and the public administrations in general find it very difficult, with the limited human and material resources available to them, to attend to the growing needs of a large number of collectives who are at risk of exclusion. These problems are accentuated by successive economic crises and more recently by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. These crises often result in a rise in unemployment rates or a drop in household incomes, problems that primarily affect groups that are already more vulnerable. The demand for aid via “social intervention” is continually on the rise. This explains why volunteering is so important TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR today in that, although some claim that it contributes indirectly to the legitimization of the existing social order and political power (Zurdo, 2006), others argue that social justice requires the solidarity of the whole population, so as to eradicate inequality in living conditions and the way we are treated until such a time as these just social demands are finally met, so rendering voluntary work unnecessary (Maroto & Barrera, 2018). In spite of the growing need for voluntary work described above, there have been few research studies that measure the impact of voluntary work on society and on the territory (Medina, 2016). Within academic research, geography, within its overall objective of integrating economic, social and environmental dimensions to promote territorial development, seems destined to play a leading role in this field. To achieve this, it is vital to advance in the creation of a carefully structured, official information collection system which sheds light on a question that is immersed in a continual process of change and development (Flores & Gómez, 2010). Most of the analyses conducted offer insights into the complexity of this phenomenon, the reasons why people get involved in voluntary work at different scales, their sociodemographic profiles and the type of work they do. However, it is also necessary to analyse the new social actors who play a key role in the world of volunteering and territorial cooperation. These include universities, institutions that are typically involved in the generation and social transfer of knowledge, as well as in teaching, investigation and innovation, and are therefore ideally placed to dynamize local development (Suárez, 2006). Although universities are not the only agents that can boost the development of their surrounding areas (Martínez, 2014), there is evidence that these institutions have an enormous capacity to interact with local institutions and companies, so providing, in addition to the new knowledge produced by research, new methods, procedures and tools that can facilitate prospective analyses of social and territorial needs, so as to improve the situation on the ground (Tostado, 2004). As a result, it is crucial to identify how university voluntary work in collaboration with nongovernmental or charitable associations can promote local development, improving various social, economic and environmental aspects of the local communities where the work is being done. 2. A BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO THE CONCEPT OF VOLUNTEERING AND ITS HISTORY. It is difficult to reach a single unified definition of volunteering that is accepted worldwide (Silva et al, 2013). Voluntary and other charitable organizations make up what is variously referred to as the third sector, the non-profit sector, social movements, civil society, or perhaps most commonly, the social economy sector (Pérez & López, 2003). These are just some of the terms used to refer to this broad field whose boundaries are far from clear. In certain spatial spheres, this makes it difficult to exactly distinguish what volunteering really is (García, 2003). According to Vicente Ballesteros (2016), volunteering is a social, personal, political, legal, moral and economic (etc.) phenomenon all at the same time. This makes it impossible to TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR encompass or reduce, so rendering it almost impossible to define. Volunteering takes on different forms and meanings in different contexts according to the cultural and economic realities of the countries and communities (Tallirico & Berti, 2005), and its particular definition is influenced by history, religion and culture among other variables, (Silva et al, 2013). Researchers in this field have approached this subject from many different angles. In a report issued by the Spanish Volunteering Platform (Plataforma del Voluntariado de España) in 2009, a volunteer was defined as someone who, after becoming aware of the situation of the poorest, most disadvantaged or marginalised groups in society, decides in a generous altruistic way to participate, together with other people, in a range of projects within the framework of a voluntary organization, devoting part of their time to support actions that take place within the framework of specific projects (Rincón, 2010). As a result, volunteering can be seen as the practical expression of solidarity and undoubtedly as a form of social participation with strong links to the community, in that it makes a direct contribution to social cohesion (Medina, 2016). Finally, Article 3 of the Law on Volunteering passed by the Spanish government (Law 45/2015, of 14th October 2015) defines the concept of volunteering on the basis of its altruistic nature, which necessarily involves a decision freely taken by the volunteer, without receiving any economic and/or material reward in exchange, and which must be carried out through voluntary organizations. The Andalusia Regional Law on Volunteering (Law 4/2018 of 8th May 2018) offers a similar definition, also in Article 3. Selfless actions to help others have been carried out throughout the history of our species and there is evidence that since ancient times this practice has helped create organized charitable institutions (Anguita, 2018). Regardless of the particular driving force behind it (be it the Catholic church in the case of Spain, the State, Civil Society etc), voluntary work has been a constant feature of all societies and has been sponsored above all by religious institutions. Each country has its own conception, definition and history of volunteering, which are closely linked to different approaches, traditions and cultures and are also the result of the particular direction given to public policies (Fresno & Tsolakis, 2012). In the case of Europe, volunteering has developed along two different paths, i.e. the path followed by the Scandinavian and English-speaking countries and that followed by the Mediterranean countries (Gómez, 2008). In the first case, the long historical tradition of voluntary work enabled the rapid establishment of public policies and research into this subject, together with a large number of volunteers and non-governmental organisations. In Mediterranean countries by contrast, helping other people was considered the work of the Church, the State or the gentry or monied classes (Sebastián, 2002). As there was no previous cultural history or references, or a strong tradition, it was difficult for people to grasp the idea of providing a service without receiving some form of financial reward in exchange. If we look beyond Europe, and according once again to Fresno & Tsolakis (2012), the relatively small role played by the public sector and the high levels of poverty and exclusion in North and TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR and helping others. This is an interesting reason to now look more closely at the work being done by UGR Solidaria. 5. WORK DONE BY UGR SOLIDARIA AS REPORTED IN ITS ANNUAL REPORTS Ever since UGR Solidaria was first established in 2015, the tendency has been towards an increase in the number of voluntary actions (Figure 4), which rose from 25 voluntary actions in academic year 2015-2016 to 89 in 2020-2021. There has been little or no increase in figures for the most recent academic years above all due to the lockdown and other restrictions imposed as a result of COVID-19. Another repercussion of the pandemic on voluntary work was the promotion of online volunteering which enabled people to participate remotely, although this meant sacrificing direct face-to-face contact with people, an integral part of volunteering. Figure 4. Number of voluntary work actions carried out by UGR Solidaria in each academic year Source: drawn up by the authors From our review of the annual reports and focusing in particular on the most recent at the time this study was conducted (academic year 2020-2021), three main blocks of action can be identified. The first block covers preparatory actions, which help promote voluntary work amongst the university community. This part encompasses raising awareness amongst university students and training them. Raising awareness is very important when it comes to attracting a larger number of volunteers, although its impact on society is theoretical rather than practical. It enables people to find out more about the problems facing local society, but it is very difficult to quantify or measure its impact. In specific terms, this block involves above all the dissemination of the campaigns, projects and activities that are organised together with lectures, reports and talks on participation and collaboration in external activities. Social networks are an essential tool for publicizing, promoting, carrying out and disseminating the work that is done over the course of the academic TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR year. The second block corresponds to research work to find out what has been done, what results have been achieved and what conclusions can be drawn. The following publications are of particular interest: - Book on volunteering entitled “Voluntary work for local development” (Voluntariado por y para el desarrollo local sostenible). - Guide to Volunteering in Ceuta - Catalogue of NGOs and Solidarity Associations in the Autonomous City of Ceuta - Presentation of the book “The sustainable development of the Vega de Granada (Spain)” (Por un desarrollo sostenible de la Vega de Granada (España)). The last section centres on direct actions in support of local development, in the form of micro-projects and actions carried out by NGOs for which they appeal for volunteers from UGR Solidaria. In the annual report, we found 16 actions involving “offers of voluntary work”, 19% of all the voluntary work activities carried out during the last academic year. These are specific projects in which the students collaborate with the NGOs that require their services. 6. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PROFILE OF VOLUNTEERS FROM GRANADA UNIVERSITY. From our review of the latest data published in the book “Voluntary work for local development”, we obtained a general sociodemographic profile of UGR volunteers. The most notable characteristic is that the vast majority, more than eight out of ten, of the volunteers at the UGR are women (Figure 5). These high figures are perhaps due to the particular gender role that society has attributed to women as homemakers and in caring for the family. In other words, reproductive work has traditionally been considered women’s work, while productive work has been assigned to men. Figure 5. Distribution of UGR volunteers in 2020 by sex. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR This social construct within a paternalist society explains why the volunteer movement continues to be dominated by women today (Rebollar & Guilló, 2011). This finding is endorsed by other studies that argue that women are more active in prosocial questions than men (Cívico-Ariza et al, 2020), as they are more aware of and sensitive to the needs of other people. This leads into the second characteristic of this profile, the degrees that student volunteers study. The faculties with the highest percentages of people who have done voluntary work with NGOs and solidarity associations through UGR Solidaria were the Faculty of Educational Sciences and the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters (Figure 6). Figure 6. Percentage distribution of UGR volunteers by Faculty. The Education Faculty offers the following Degree courses: Degree in Pre-School Education, Degree in Primary Education, Degree in Primary Education (Bilingual), Degree in Social Education, Degree in Pedagogy and Double Degrees in Primary Education and French Studies, and in Primary Education and English Studies. For its part, the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters has a large number of degree and double degree courses, namely: Degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Degree in Archaeology, Degree in French Studies, Degree in English Studies, Degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies, Degree in Classical Philology, Degree in Spanish Philology, Degree in Philosophy, Degree in Geography and Territorial Management, Degree in History, Degree in History of Art, Degree in Musical Sciences and History, Degree in Modern Languages and their Literatures, Degree in Comparative Literatures and Double Degrees in Primary Education and French Studies, and in Primary Education and English Studies, and in English Studies and Spanish Philology. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Of all the volunteers, 16% said that they did voluntary work almost every day of the academic year (Figure 7). Amongst the members of the UGR community, the vast majority carried out occasional voluntary work over the course of the year. One of the main strategic objectives of UGR Solidaria is to try to ensure that voluntary work becomes a regular part of students’ lives over the course of their university careers. However, at the same time it is important to bear in mind that students typically have a very high work/study load, which explains why most have only limited availability for voluntary work. Figure 7. Availability for voluntary work March and February were the months when students said they would have most time available for voluntary work (Figure 8). The relatively high figure for October as compared to the summer months is due to the awareness-raising campaigns conducted at the start of the academic year in mid-September. These campaigns include Student Reception Day, when students get to find out more about UGR Solidaria, and above all the publication of offers of voluntary work on social media. The peaks in March and February coincide with the beginning of the second semester. The low availability for voluntary work in January, May and June is because this is when most undergraduate students, the largest group of volunteers, have exams. In general, there is little voluntary activity in the summer months even though UGR Solidaria tries to cover this gap with its “solidarity summer” (verano solidario) project. UGR Solidaria is trying to reduce the strong seasonal fluctuations through the Project “12 months, 12 solidarity causes”, which is based on promoting different voluntary actions with NGOs, coinciding with some of the most important UN international days on the UGR Solidaria’s Solidarity Calendar. As a result, September is devoted to working for the universal right to receive education, October is devoted to raising awareness in support of freedom of expression, TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR November to campaigns against violence, December in support of healthy sexuality, January to freedom in the world and February to the encouragement of healthy habits. March is devoted to tolerance, April to highlighting the importance of voluntary work and May to the defence of cultural diversity. For their part, June is devoted to the responsible use of natural resources, July to respect for elderly people, and August to the defence of indigenous peoples and solidarity tourism. Figure 8. Availability for voluntary work (months). The main way most people find out about UGR Solidaria is on the Internet (Figure 9) or through online news platforms and social media. This is how they receive information about the Volunteering Service and many of the offers from NGOs. Figure 9. How did you find out about UGR Solidaria? TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR We will now look at the groups with which the volunteers from the UGR community most often work. These are firstly children and secondly people at risk of social exclusion (Figure 10). The fact that so many volunteers work with children is due to the fact that a high percentage of volunteers are from the Education Faculty. While the work done with people at risk of social education is due to the high participation of Social Science and Humanities Students. Voluntary work in defence of the environment seems to attract Science students above all. Figure 10. Groups with which the volunteers work. The main reason put forward for doing voluntary work was “solidarity and helping others” (Figure 11). For most people, voluntary work involves attending to people or collaborating in activities organized by NGOs. Figure 11. Main reason that led people to do voluntary work. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Finally, when asked to give an overall assessment of their experience of voluntary work, 96% rated it as: “good” or “very good”. (Figure 12). Their level of satisfaction is very high, not only because volunteering allows them to meet people from very different circles than they would normally mix with, but also because the help they provide has beneficial, sometimes immediate effects on the groups or issues in which they are working. In many cases, they are also pleased because they are acquiring pre-professional experience, in that the work they are doing is related to the courses they are studying. Figure 12. Assessment of their voluntary work experience by the UGR university community The above results indicate that given its youth, knowledge and initiative, the university community has great potential for promoting sustainable local development. Having reached this point, the next stage is to find out more about the NGOs that collaborate with UGR Solidaria and in which the members of the university community carry out their voluntary work. 7. NUMBER, TYPES AND LOCATION OF THE NGOs UGR Solidaria publishes a list of the NGOs with which it collaborates. The latest list had a total of 128 NGOs. A new list is currently being drawn up to update the information and to find out if any NGOs have stopped collaborating with the UGR or if any new ones have started. This new list has not yet been published. According to Law 4/2018, of 8th May, on Voluntary Work in Andalusia, these 128 NGOs can be classified into various different types (Figure 13). The vast majority are social (52 or 40.6%) or community health (45 or 35.2%) voluntary entities, while educational (8 or 6.3%), environmental (6 or 4.7%), international (6 or 4.7%) and cultural (5 or 3.9%) NGOs also play an important role. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Leisure and free-time (2 or 1.57%) and community, civil, digital and consumer-related voluntary entities (less than 1%) are less influential. None of the NGOs performed exclusively sports-related or online/virtual voluntary work. In spite of this, all the NGOs carry out work of very different kinds in different spheres and sectors. This means that these classifications often overlap and are subject to change. Figure 13. NGOs by type of voluntary work Source: The authors. As regards the location of the NGOs near the 3 UGR campuses, of the total of 128 NGOs, 9 are located near the Melilla Campus, 12 near the Ceuta Campus and 107 near that of Granada. As regards the Granada campus, 81 of the NGOs are in the city of Granada itself and there are 12 more in its surrounding metropolitan area in the towns of La Zubia (2), Atarfe (2), Armilla (2), Maracena (2), Pinos Genil (1), Alhendín (1), Santa Fe (1) and Churriana de la Vega (1). If we look beyond the metropolitan area, there are also NGOs in Motril (3), Baza (3), Salobreña (2), Almuñécar (1), Benamaurel (1), Loja (1), Huéneja (1), Albuñol (1) and Huéscar (1). These are some of the most important towns in the different comarcas or sub-regions that make up the province of Granada, in terms of both their economic dynamism and their populations. The above is just one of the challenges facing volunteering in general and in Granada University in particular, namely encouraging voluntary work in rural towns and villages, and in particular in those at risk of depopulation, so furthering the cause of gender equality. This last assertion is based on the enormous amount of studies that make clear that without rural women, the countryside has no future. It also refers to others in which we are currently working, which argue that a good way to encourage women not to leave their villages or to inspire those who have left to return would be to foment associationism in deep rural areas. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR If we look at the location of the NGOs by districts (Figure 14) and within the city of Granada (Figure 15), the map shows quite a wide distribution. The greatest number are concentrated within the Distrito Centro or city centre with 21 associations, despite this being the district with the second lowest population. The Beiro and Ronda districts, which border on the Distrito Centro and have higher populations, also stand out, followed by the Zaidin neighbourhood. In most cases, the higher the number of inhabitants, the greater the presence of NGOs. The exception is the Distrito Centro. This is due to the advantages of having a city centre location for their offices, not only to ensure visibility amongst the general public and the population aided by the volunteers, but also due to the fact that there are premises in old buildings with cheap rents. Proximity to certain political and economic decision-making centres is another possible advantage. The fact that the association offices are located in a particular place does not mean that the voluntary activities that they perform are aimed exclusively at the people in that neighbourhood. Due to the territorial imbalances within the city of Granada, most voluntary action is focused on the most disadvantaged groups in society who generally live in the poorest districts of the city. The seven districts in the Distrito Norte, classified as vulnerable neighbourhoods by the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda, are the main focus of NGO action and where UGR Solidaria concentrates most of its efforts and resources, as this is where a large proportion of the people being helped live. We have noticed that some NGOS are opening offices in these neighbourhoods, as demonstrated by the fact that seven of the 81 NGOs on the UGR Solidaria database in the city of Granada, are located there. Figure 14. Number of associations in each district of the city of Granada DISTRICT Nº INHABITANTS Nº ASSOCIATIONS DISTRITO ALBAYZIN 10,131 6 DISTRITO CENTRO 22,690 21 DISTRITO CHANA 24,988 6 DISTRITO NORTE 25,013 7 DISTRITO GENIL 32,893 7 DISTRITO BEIRO 41,739 12 DISTRITO ZAIDIN 42,412 9 DISTRITO RONDA 46,149 13 CITY OF GRANADA 246,015 81 Source: The authors on the basis of information from the municipal census 2021 (Granada City Council) TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figure 15. Location of the NGOs that collaborate with UGR Solidaria in Granada Source: Drawn up by the authors on the basis of information from the database of associations in Granada, Ceuta and Melilla 6. CHARACTERISTICS, MISSION/VISION AND OBJECTIVES OF A SAMPLE OF THE NGOs THAT COLLABORATE WITH UGR SOLIDARIA The survey we conducted (Annex I) provides more detailed information about 14 NGOs in the city of Granada. This contains a profile of the managers of each entity, of the people they employ and of the volunteers who collaborate with them. We also analysed their main lines of action, the groups that they help and some of the impacts they have had on local development. This section is concluded with a brief analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on these associations, the media in which their work is reported and publicized, and their sources of finance. Firstly, 66.7% of the NGO managers interviewed were women and 33.3% were men. This is a sign of the dominant role played by women, not only as volunteers, but also as managers of NGOs and solidarity associations. They vary a great deal in age although many fall within the 40-44 age bracket (as in 7 of the 15 NGOs studied). Similarly, amongst the NGO employees, there is a huge predominance of women with 86.67% compared to just 13.4% of men. The majority age range is between 20 and 49 years old, with maximum frequency in the 30-44 age bracket. 86.67% have further education qualifications (university degrees or high level vocational) and 13.4% intermediate level studies (baccalaureate or intermediate level vocational). TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR - Soup kitchen - Supervised housing for homeless people - Training, promoting independence and raising awareness - Campaigns for the collection and distribution of food, clothing and personal hygiene products - Development of specific support, rehabilitation and training measures - Direct contact with public and private institutions and sectors working with children, welfare, differently abled people, etc. The positive impacts and repercussions of these voluntary work actions are above all of a social nature. We found improvements at an educational level and in terms of food, basic needs and work/family balance. Other improvements have been achieved in people’s economic outlook, mainly related with employment. All these positive impacts are set out below in Table 5. Figure 21. Impact of these actions on local development SOCIAL FAMILY EDUCATIONAL Improvement of intra-family dynamics Support for families with intellectually disabled members Nurturing and coordination of the parents’ associative movement. Prevention of family and social conflict Prevention of delinquency and repair of damage due to trauma Accompaniment of lonely elderly people Offer minors in care foster families Improve the social skills of different groups Training at different levels of education and provision of specific educational skills (course, programmes) Raising the awareness of the educational community Educational advice and accompaniment Promotion of education as a way of breaking out of poverty and exclusion FOOD AND OTHER BASIC NEEDS Other aspects... TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Coverage of basic food needs through soup kitchens Handing out clothing and personal hygiene products Access to basic products for women (sanitary products) and babies/children (nappies, baby bottles, etc) Inform and raise awareness of the general public Acquire new skills for preventing and/or avoiding conflict Social insertion Promote social volunteering, encourage associationism and the creation of alliances ECONOMIC (Employment) Creation of social and employment opportunities Advice and accompaniment in relation to problems at work Careers advice, legal advice and economic emergencies Adapting workplace to special needs Promotion of inclusive employment (aimed at people with Down’s syndrome or borderline intelligence) Source: The authors In the questionnaire they were also asked about the impact of their work on certain specific issues (Figure 22). In general, all the associations try to have a positive impact on their target populations through the different actions they perform. The actions with the greatest impact on the territory are those enhancing gender equality, followed by the social integration of women. The fight against ethnic discrimination and help with job-seeking are also important questions. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figure 22. Impact of their work on different issues in the areas where the associations operate Source: The authors Finally of the 14 entities interviewed, 13% claimed that they had “maximum” impact on local and territorial development, 67% said that they had “quite a lot” of impact and 20% said that they had “some” impact. 100% believed that their work was a form of innovation that favoured progress. As regards the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management and operations of the NGOs, 11 said they had reduced their activities by at least 20%, two between 20% and 40%, one between 40% and 60%, and one by over 80%. After the pandemic, just 40% said that they had had difficulty in returning to the pre-crisis figures (number of volunteers, actions, people attended to..). The problems they encountered were above all: - Users were afraid to participate - Changes in the way they attended to the population - Difficulties in finding volunteers and funding (Capital and HR shortages) - Management problems - Difficulties carrying out certain activities and meetings face-to-face. It is also important for the NGOs to promote the work they do in order to raise funds and find volunteers. All the entities said that they issued an annual report or similar document describing the different activities they had carried out during the year. In the same way, they also use different online media to publicize their work (Figure 23). TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Almost 9 out of 10 used websites, and nearly 7 out of 10 also used Facebook. 6 out of 10 used WhatsApp and less than half, Instagram. They also used Twitter and YouTube, albeit to a lesser extent. Figure 23. Media used to publicize the work done by the NGOs Source: The authors Lastly, we discovered that their finance comes from various different sources (Figure 24). The most common source of funding for the NGOs is the regional administration, in this case the Regional Government of Andalusia, with over 75% of them assuring that they received funds from this source. Over half the entities receive funds from the Local Administration, while the Provincial Council provides funding for just under 50%. Less than one in four said that they received aid from the State. For almost half the associations, self-financing (Figure 24) accounted for less than 20% of total spending, while 13% said that they put up between 20 and 40%. 33% said that they contributed between 40 and 60%, while only one association said that it was capable of selffinancing 60 to 80% of its spending requirements. Figure 24. Source of funding (%).) TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR This analysis of the degree to which they self-finance their operations highlights how reliant the NGOs are on grants and subsidies from the public administrations. This is a question of enormous importance as we look towards the future, as evidence has shown that during important economic crises, a significant number of NGOs disappear due to a lack of resources. Figure 25. Self-financing as a percentage of total available funds Source: The authors 7. FINAL REFLECTIONS AND CONCLUSIONS Our society continues to suffer important imbalances, which are manifested in the inequality of rights and opportunities suffered by part of the population. This shows that in spite of their efforts, the public administrations are incapable of eradicating inequality and deprivation by themselves. This requires much greater participation from civil society through various different channels, including voluntary work. The solidarity of volunteers should not be regarded as an acceptance of the current social situation or as a way of demobilizing the struggle for a better society. Far from it, voluntary work should be seen as a mature response to the regrettable situation in our cities where the value of human life varies enormously depending on the area in which you live (something of which the residents of the seven neighbourhoods in the Distrito Norte of Granada are well aware). Similarly, many of our fellow citizens do not enjoy the same opportunities as we do, perhaps because they are disabled, or have had to flee their home countries and cultures or due to any number of different circumstances in their lives. Their situation is starkly different from that of the University community, made up of people TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR who not only have their needs in terms of food, clothing and accommodation well covered, but also who study and/or work in one of the best universities in the country. This fact is recognized in many of the league tables, such as the Shanghai ranking, and should lead us to value the important role played by public universities financed by the taxes paid by society as a whole. This realization of how fortunate we are should encourage us to make an effort to give back to society part of what it has given or is giving us. What better way of doing this than helping those who are most in need or have not enjoyed decent living conditions or been as fortunate as those of us who make up the university community? This study has focused on the important work being done by the University of Granada Voluntary Work scheme, whose main objective is to enable the entire community of the UGR’s three campuses to do voluntary work with local NGOs. Local and international voluntary work have been promoted at the UGR since the year 2000. This was initially carried out through the Centre for Cooperation for Development (CICODE). However, in 2015, UGR Solidaria was set up to manage the local volunteering side, although coordinated by the CICODE. It is important to remember here, as evidenced in other studies, that the different Governing Boards of the UGR have made a determined effort to promote voluntary work. They have considered it not only a key aspect to help the students concerned develop a full, much wider skill set, but also for highlighting the social responsibility of universities towards the people and the territories in which they operate, which can provide an important boost to sustainable local development. There are numerous studies that highlight the motivations and the sociodemographic profile of the people who do voluntary work. They have also described the important work done by voluntary organizations with the neediest groups in society and to help solve many of the territorial/environmental problems that we suffer. However, in this research we have highlighted the fact that there are few studies that join these lines of research together (people who do voluntary work, NGOs/Solidarity Associations and how their work improves the local situation). Authors such as Suárez Zozaya (2006), Martínez Porta (2014) and more recently Maroto et al (2018) have all stressed the role that universities can play as agents of sustainable local development. Within this context, this study seeks to explore the work done by voluntary associations in coordination with UGR Solidaria to further local development in Granada. Nowadays, the promotion of voluntary work by universities is widespread throughout Spain, with women being more actively involved than men. The latest report by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña entitled “9th Study on University Volunteering” (2021), shows that 72% of university volunteers are women, a percentage that is even higher in the UGR at 85%. This fact was confirmed at a state level in a report entitled “Voluntary work in the mirror” (El voluntariado ante el espejo) issued by the Spanish Volunteering Platform (SVP) (2021), which claimed that the feminization of voluntary work was the first sign of inequality and argued that the tendency to TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR reproduce traditional sexist roles in voluntary activities should be eradicated. If we return to the study by the Fundación Mutua Madrileña, we find that 9 out of 10 Spanish universities have a voluntary work scheme, where the most common type of project involves working with children, and that 8 out of 10 universities award their students ECTS credits towards their degree courses, as happens in UGR Solidaria. By consulting the documents “Voluntary work at universities. Reflections and proposals” (2020) and “Voluntary work and universities as seen by the voluntary associations” (2019) drawn up by the SVP, we can compare the results for other countries and universities with those in the annual reports issued by UGR Solidaria and with the surveys of some of the collaborating entities in Granada. The voluntary associations operating in the social field are the most frequent, followed by those in community health and education. This same conclusion regarding the dominance of social voluntary associations was also reached for Spain as a whole in the study by Mutua Madrileña. This explains why in this research we decided to focus on the answers provided by social NGOs. Even so, in future studies the questionnaire should be expanded to cover all types of voluntary associations in order to obtain a better, more complete image of this question. As regards the fields in which they operate, the SVP identified: social action, integration and inclusion, community health, human rights and participation; with the first of these dominating the others. In our research, we decided to reduce this to three fields namely equality, inclusion and sustainability, which are more general and a closer match for the structure and the name of the vice-rectorate to which the UGR Solidaria scheme belongs. We also believe that this division into three fields is more didactic and intuitive for the reader and that the categories created by the SVP could be incorporated into these three large fields of action. In addition to the above, it is clear that many of the activities carried out by voluntary associations are not confined to a single field of action. The complexity of this question obliged us to examine each action carefully so as to be able to identify the main field in which the association operated. It is obvious for example that integration and inclusion, community health, and work in favour of human rights and participation are all fields of action that seek to promote both equality and inclusion. The analysis of the actions of NGOs, supported by volunteers, highlights the great job they do to advance the local development of the territories in which they operate. However, the lack of standardized official information prevents us from applying indicators that measure their impact on sustainable local development. This is a challenge that must be tackled in the future. There is plenty of evidence that the associations affect different dimensions (economicsocialenvironmental) of the situation in the areas in which they operate, with the social field being most affected. They also attribute great importance to the family as a key Institution for the development, social inclusion and wellbeing of all its members. Volunteers play an essential role in this work given that, as noted earlier, their main activity is providing direct aid to people. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR The actions they perform benefit society as a whole, in that through specific activities aimed at specific groups, the benefits are spread to other social groups and spheres. In short, the general objective of all the voluntary associations is to help different social groups (families, the elderly, children, immigrants, unemployed people, vulnerable people, the general public) in different fields (inclusion, health, education, employment), so as to ensure that they achieve full personal development and the attention they require, and enhance their inclusion in the community. As regards the conclusions of this research, we must emphasize the following: The first conclusion to be drawn is that our initial hypothesis was well-founded, namely that the work done by the voluntary associations that cooperate with the UGR Solidaria scheme (part of the Vice-Rectorate of Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability) makes an important contribution to local development. These associations make an important impact in the form of a wide range of improvements in local communities, the economy, the environment, in short in the territory and its contents. This research shows that the work they do tries essentially to improve the social dimension of the area in which they operate, although as we have seen, they also bring about improvements of an economic and environmental nature. The second major conclusion is that UGR Solidaria is an essential nexus between the university community and the voluntary associations and NGOs in Granada. The number of NGOs that collaborate with the University volunteering scheme is rising continually, so requiring more people from the university community to participate in their projects. The NGOs value not only the high level of education and technical training of the university community, but also their availability, the time they are prepared to devote and their eagerness to help tackle the problems suffered by society. However, there is still a very pronounced gender gap in the University voluntary programme, which means that more work should be done to encourage men to get involved in volunteering, so breaking away from the traditional gender role of women as carers of the family and of society as a whole. The number of associations that collaborate with UGR Solidaria is quite high at over 100. We have found that their activities, as mentioned in in-depth interviews and explained on their websites, are aimed essentially at the most vulnerable populations in the city of Granada situated above all in the Distrito Norte, where the neediest groups in society live. In spite of this, our georeferencing of their offices showed that most associations are not located in these districts and are normally situated in the Distrito Centro in the centre of the city. The Distrito Centro is an area characterized by its elderly population and ancient buildings. It contains a large number of premises run by the City Council and the Catholic Church, which play an important role in attending to excluded people or to people at risk of exclusion. In addition, as most of the city's artistic and historical heritage is located in this area, as well as some key city services and infrastructures, it is traversed everyday by large numbers of people, both residents of the city and tourists. The city centre location of many associations makes them easily accessible to TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR potential volunteers who wish to find out how to collaborate. Furthermore, the Distrito Centro is also where most of the homeless population and people who hoping to earn a few euros from begging tend to congregate, as it is also where most soup kitchens and social hostels are located. Finally, there is also the fact that there are many small shops in the vicinity that are frequent collaborators with the NGOs. Granada University must therefore continue to develop its social responsibility through Volunteering Schemes with NGOs. The results provide benefits for all those involved. • The university must continue to act, not only through teaching and research but also through their transfer and social responsibility, as a beacon that guides those seeking to improve the current situation, so laying the foundations and providing the theoretical, methodological and even practical tools to enable us to advance towards a more hopeful future. • The NGOs rely not only on people with the highest technical qualifications, but also and fundamentally on young people who are very keen to help improve the world in which they live. Not only do young people have the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice to help the NGOs (learning through service), but also to acquire new competencies, skills and knowledge that together result in pre-professional experiences that will make them better in their specialist field, find work more easily, progress within their chosen professions and above all be more committed, much happier citizens. • Finally, the public administrations must provide much more support to NGOs and voluntary associations so that they can continue reaching the parts of society that others cannot reach, while not forgetting that they have a duty to be much more effective when carrying out their responsibilities as public services. More resources are required to provide us with standardized reliable information that enables us to measure the impact of voluntary work at a microspatial or neighbourhood level. This is the challenge in which we are now engaged, as we believe that a full evaluation of the benefits of voluntary work must measure its impact in economic, social and environmental terms and reflect it in a geo-referenced way, so as to improve the design of effective policies and action strategies and ensure that they are managed correctly, monitoring their progress over time and space. We hope that the administrations come to appreciate their importance and help us to rise to this challenge. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR BIBLIOGRAPHY Arias Cariaga, S., & Rincón Becerra, C. (2016). El fomento y la promoción del voluntariado en las universidades españolas. Revista Española del Tercer Sector (34), 39-63. Ballesteros Alarcón, V. (2016). ¿Medir el trabajo voluntario? ¿Por qué? ¿Para qué? ¿Cómo? Revista Española del Tercer Sector (34), 125-154. Ballesteros Alarcón, V. (2021). ¿Son solidarias las universidades españolas? El voluntariado universitario. Máquez, Vázquez, C. (Dir.). Transformación universitaria. Retos y oportunidades (641-651). Universidad de Salamanca. Ballesteros Alarcón, V. (Dir.) (2019). El voluntariado y las universidades visto por las entidades de voluntariado. Estudio de opinión. Plataforma de Voluntariado de España, Madrid. Ballesteros, V., Velasco, A., Álvarez, J., Amate, M., Franco, P & López, E., (2020). Voluntariado en el ámbito universitario. Reflexiones y propuestas. Plataforma de Voluntariado de España, Madrid. Castellano, I. (2016). La medición del voluntariado: una aproximación a través de los datos. Revista de Estadística y Sociedad, 66, 11–13. Cívico-Ariza, A., Colomo Magaña, E., González García, E., y Sánchez-Rivas, E. (2020). Volunteering in the University Context: Student Perception and Participation. Education Sciences, 10 (12), 380. Fernández Prados, J. S. (2002). La categoría social de voluntariado y su realidad en España. Revista Internacional de Sociología, 60, 182-198. Fresno, J. M., & Tsolakis, A. (2012). Profundizar el voluntariado: los retos hasta 2020. Plataforma del Voluntariado de España (PVE), Madrid. Gómez Vílchez, M.S. (2008). Voluntariado cultural. Media Musea. Iáñez Domínguez, A., & Álvarez Pérez, R. (2014). La cooperación al desarrollo en las universidades públicas andaluzas. Alternativas Cuadernos de trabajo Social, 21(21), 143. https://doi.org/10.14198/altern2014.21.07 Krauskopf, D. (2010). Perspectivas para el desarrollo del voluntariado juvenil. Revista Observatorio de Juventud, 26, 13-23. Lachance, E. L. (2021). COVID-19 and its Impact on Volunteering: Moving Towards Virtual Volunteering. Leisure Sciences, 43(1-2), 104-110. https://doi.org/10.1080/01490400.2020.1773990 TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR BEGGING IN GRANADA: GEOLOCATION AND DESCRIPTION OF THE CURRENT SITUATION Juan Carlos Maroto Martos, Fernando López Martínez, Álvaro Romero Hidalgo, Edianny Carballo Cruz [email protected] flop[email protected]m alvaroromero261[email protected]m edian[email protected]om 1. INTRODUCTION. This paper is the product of research carried out into people in Granada who are excluded from society or at risk of social exclusion. The research was conducted by UGR Solidaria, the Granada University Voluntary Work Scheme (part of the Vice-Rectorate of Equality, Inclusion and Sustainability), in 2021 and 2022. It is based on a more detailed study for 2021, which was completed with new variables by geographers who were doing their practical work for their Degrees in Geography and Territorial Management, in the said University voluntary work scheme. During the two-year research period, we established three main objectives: firstly, to use a Geographic Information System (GIS) to locate all the people that beg or sleep rough in the streets of Granada. Secondly, to find out more about the circumstances that had led them to this situation, and to try to determine their sociodemographic profile. Thirdly, to find out more about the services available in Granada to try to mitigate or improve their situation, which we classified as of extreme vulnerability. In our first field work session, a total of 104 people were found begging or sleeping rough in the streets of Granada. In the second session, this figure was slightly higher at 109. The data were obtained from photographs of the people concerned. When taking the photographs (with a smartphone), we took special care to ensure that they did not enable the person concerned to be identified, but did enable us to register the place, street and/or number of the building, portal, portico, square, garden etc. where they were located. The most recent information was processed with ArcMap software (UTM coordinate system, ETRS89 time zone 30N). The base map was a map of Granada at a scale of 1:15.000, obtained from the cartographic database at the Andalusia Institute of Statistics and Cartography. We also conducted exploratory conversations with the homeless and beggars to obtain information. These were deliberately informal so as to ensure that the interviewees did not feel that they were being interrogated. The aim was to discover demographic data, such as where they were from, how long they had been living in the streets and begging, important milestones in their life stories, employment and health questions, their knowledge of the social services in the city, whether they wanted to escape from their current situation, places they normally visited, etc . . TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Although the work is ongoing today, in this paper we will be presenting some of the most relevant data obtained in 2021 and 2022. 2. RESULTS. Without intending to be exhaustive in any way and in order to provide some context, in 2021 21.7% of the population of Europe were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This is partially due to the current price rises as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, although in some countries, including Spain, which has 28% of its population in this situation, there is also a deep-rooted structural problem (Figure 1). Figure 1. % of population at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Europe NUTS 2 (2021) Of the data collected by Eurostat (2023) for the year 2021, we found that the countries with the highest percentages of people at risk of poverty are located in southern and eastern Europe and that in Spain there is a clear imbalance between North and South. The situation remains much the same as in previous years, as confirmed in the AROPE (at risk of poverty or social exclusion) report, which described the state of poverty in Spain (AROPE 2022), while also tracking the EU2030 Agenda indicators from 2015 to 2022 (Figure 2). The fact that there are people who have to resort to begging is a clear example of the social exclusion that part of Spanish society is suffering. The said AROPE report indicates that 27.8% of the Spanish population, over 13 million people, are at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion, a figure that has been increasing since 2019. It affects more women (28.9%) than TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR men (26.7%). The data enable us to affirm that we are lagging seriously behind if we want to comply with the objective set out in the Agenda 2030, namely to reduce the poverty level in 2015 by half. Some progress has been made, but a lot more must be done if we want to achieve the poverty target in all its dimensions. Figure 2. AROPE Indicator according to the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) At the Province of Granada scale, a Report on the State of Poverty in Andalusia, issued by the Andalusian Network for the Struggle against Poverty and Social Exclusion (EAPN-A), affirmed that approximately 150,000 people live on less than 530 euros a month, in a situation that can be classified as severe poverty. We do not have up-to-date figures to enable us to analyse the poverty in the city of Granada today. However, data from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics regarding average income per person reveals enormous differences, in that the average resident of the city centre earns six times as much as someone who lives in the impoverished neighbourhoods in the Distrito Norte of Granada. Another interesting indicator, which will soon be updated, is the deprivation index produced within the framework of the MEDEA project using an inframunicipal scale of analysis. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figure 3. Deprivation Index in Granada in 2011. Medea Project The MEDEA project, involving researchers from the Andalusian School of Public Health in Granada, revealed that poverty kills, in that socioeconomic deprivation is a determining factor in health and reduces the average life expectancy of the population. It also highlighted that although there are some parts of La Chana (around the Calle Sagrada Familia) and Zaidín (Casillas Bajas and Santa Adela) that have very negative situations, the worst indicators are in the Distrito Norte (Figure 3). Although in the case of the city of Granada, the people with the worst socioeconomic problems tend to live in certain peripheral neighbourhoods, evidence shows, and we saw this clearly in 2020 and again in 2021, that during the daylight hours many of them travel to strategic places in the centre of the city where they have more chance of receiving alms. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figures 4 and 5. Geolocation of people found begging in the city of Granada in 2020 and 2021. Source: The authors. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR From the data obtained in the surveys conducted in 2020 (16 valid) and in 2021 (20 valid), the following general conclusions can be drawn. The vast majority are men (90%). The average age is 40 years old, although this average age was significantly lower in the more recent survey. Over half said that they were separated or divorced. Most (60%) said they had children, although they admitted that they had no relationship with them. An important difference between the two groups of interviews was observed with regard to the nationality of the interviewees. During the first round of interviews in 2020, over 90% said that they had Spanish nationality, however during the second round in 2021, this percentage was much lower at just over 50%. We therefore detected an increase in the presence of immigrants, above all from Africa (Senegal Morocco and Tunisia), but also from Latin America (Ecuador), and even from an EU country such as Romania. This question must be studied in more detail, especially because of the additional problems that some people face due to different languages or beliefs, which can isolate them even more. There was little variation as regards their level of education. Most said that they only had primary education. Those who declared that they were foreign nationals said that they had been homeless ever since they arrived in Spain, and had been unable to find work. All of them made clear, when asked about their previous jobs (e.g. car park attendant, builders mate, warehouse staff, cleaner) that these jobs did not require any previous studies or qualifications. As for the Spanish nationals, some said that they had had work for a long time but had been dismissed. Some blamed COVID, saying that from then on everything had gone downhill in their lives. Various others confessed that the main reason for them being in their current situation were their “vices”, such as “alcohol and drugs”, which had caused them to lose everything. None of those who took part in the second round of interviews cited the breakup of a marriage or relationship as a reason for being in their current situation. They were only asked about how long they had been living with no fixed address in the first round of interviews in 2020. The average was 5 years, although the current figure may well be lower due to the increased presence of foreign beggars with a lower average age. They live on the money they receive from passersby and from the Granada Social Services. They know the soup kitchens in the city very well. They also know where the temporary accommodation hostels are. They would like to go back to work, but most said that they had not been looking for work for some time, although they would like someone to hire them and give them a chance. Their day-to-day lives revolve around looking for a place to sleep, going to the soup kitchens to have something to eat and begging in certain very specific places. They tend to gather above all at the bus and railway stations, and also in the vicinity of hospitals, the entrances to churches, supermarkets and large shops in the centre of the city as well as the most important streets in the old part of town. In short the busiest, most crowded places. The axis formed by the bus station, the Virgen de las Nieves hospital and the railway station is particularly busy (Figure 6). TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figure 6. Axis formed by the bus station, the Virgen de las Nieves hospital and the railway station. A quarter of those interviewed said that they slept in hostels and that their next preferred option was the porticos outside the railway and bus stations, roofed areas where they are protected from the rain and some of the cold. We also found people in parks, and even in bank doorways where they can sleep more safely and are better protected from the cold. People who sleep rough have various ways of avoiding being bothered or attacked, such as sleeping in groups or having a dog. They said they were not afraid. Half of them said that they did not receive any benefit payments and almost one in four said that they did not know what benefits they were entitled to apply for that might help them out of their current situation. Just over 30% said that they knew about some of the benefits or had applied for them at some stage. Almost half (47%) said that they ate twice a day and just over 13% said three times. The rest said either “once” or “what I can” (20% each). 80% said that they drank alcohol and consumed drugs everyday. Over 70% admitted that they had thought about suicide. TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figure 7. Near the markets. In this case next to the Market of San Agustín. Source: The authors Figure 8. In La Caleta Source: Antonio López TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR Figure 9. In the Gran Vía de Colón in Granada Source: The authors TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR 3. FINAL REFLECTIONS. Begging in the streets is a subject of heated debate between those who claim we should continue giving beggars alms and those who think that instead we should be demanding social justice and personalized attention. In the case of Granada City Council, the response from the Department of Social Rights, Education and Accessibility was clear. Figure 10. Granada City Council awareness-raising campaign. Slogan reads “If you give alms to beggars, you are financing social exclusion”. Since 1983 the city has applied a series of measures for attending to homeless people. However, a fundamental milestone was reached with the design and application of the Strategic Municipal Plan for the Eradication of Homelessness 2019-2022, approved unanimously by all the political parties. The Plan was based on the following general principles: first, housing, the creation of real spaces for participation, listening, help, care, advice, economic support and training for this group. The Plan also stated that the early detection of this problem amongst people in the streets was essential, and that networks should be formed with NGOs and voluntary associations. The most striking aspect of the Plan was its general objective, based on a diagnostic analysis which we believe was correct but lacking in detail. The aim was to prevent and tackle homelessness through twelve strategic lines which were broken down into specific objectives and actions. The way of measuring their effects was also stipulated. To achieve this, the Plan included a proposed budget between 2019 and 2022 of almost 500,000 euros, most of which was to be financed by the City Council (60%), the Regional Government of Andalusia (23%), and the Ministry (17%). TO LOCAL DEVELOPMENT ALSO THROUGH VOLUNTEERING. CASE STUDY: VOLUNTERING AT THE UGR