Madeira Autonomous Region renews Youth Volunteering Program

The Regional Secretariat for Inclusion, Labour and Youth has published Ordinance no. 169/2026, which approves and regulates the new Youth Volunteering Program. This initiative aims to promote active citizenship and the development of transversal skills in young people aged between 4 and 30.

The main innovations of the program include:

• Modalities: Introduction of Regular (1 to 4 months) and Occasional (1 day to 2 weeks) volunteering.
• Areas of Action: Education, culture, sports, environment, health, social inclusion and animal protection, among others.
• Rights: Young volunteers are entitled to a monetary compensation grant (paid by bank transfer) and personal accident insurance.
• Promoting Entities: Youth associations, public entities and non-profit private entities can apply to host volunteers.

The program runs annually between February and November. Applications for the regular modality must be submitted up to 30 days before the start of the project, while for the occasional modality, the minimum notice is 3 months. This ordinance revokes the previous Ordinance no. 149/2017.