VOLONTARI NEL MONDO RTM

RTM is a non-governmental organisation for international volunteering.  Our mission is to promote the dignity of the person, protect fundamental rights, and accompany communities in sustainable development processes. We operate through medium- and long-term interventions with the active participation of local partners and beneficiaries and the involvement of local communities. Our cornerstone are the volunteers engaged both abroad in development projects and in Italy in awareness-raising and fundraising activities.

Since 1973 it has promoted international cooperation and solidarity projects in Africa, the Balkans, Latin America, and the Middle East and information, awareness-raising, and development education activities in Italy.

Social Report 2021
Statute

AREAS OF INTERVENTION

Worldwide:

  • Healthcare: prevention, awareness-raising, sanitation and hygiene animation in rural communities, vaccination campaigns, training of community agents to take care of the sick at home
  • Rural development: training and support for farmers
  • Promotion of women’s rights: support and training for groups of rural women
  • Education: support for schools and families, distribution of school kits, training for teachers, school renovations
  • Protection and recovery of minors with disabilities: educational and support activities for children with physical and mental disabilities, support for families, animation in the villages
  • Food security: construction of dams, granaries, wells, agricultural training, food education, micro-credit
  • Nutritional support: support for school canteens, food aid for tuberculosis patients, fight against child malnutrition
  • Environmental protection: sustainable management of forest resources
  • Development of local crafts and organic production: support and training for associations and cooperatives of artisans and farmers, fair trade
  • Peace education: implementation of activities aimed at families and children to foster inter-ethnic and inter-religious dialogue
  • Protection of imprisoned minors: support for alternatives to prison, education, agricultural and recreational re-education activities, professional training, pedagogical and psychological support, training for social workers

In Italy:

  • Development education
  • Awareness and fund-raising campaigns
  • Training courses on international volunteering

OUR HISTORY

Ours is a story of encounters between people and cultures. It is the story of over 400 volunteers who have devoted years of their lives to thousands of women, children, and men to answer their needs, to show that a more solidar world is possible.
It is a long history, therefore we only highlight some of its steps.

The beginning...

The arrival in Madagascar of the first missionary team of the Diocese of Reggio Emilia started the international
volunteering experiences and the projects supporting missionary activities. With time and the increasing requests by local communities, activities extended to include rural development, healthcare animation, literacy, food aid, and income-generating initiatives.
In 1973, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs acknowledged RTM’s status as an NGO and co-financed projects started.
Since then, our presence in Madagascar has been uninterrupted, and so far over 150 volunteers have spent
two or more years in the country.

1967

1975

We started a 20-year long presence in the Central African Republic to answer needs in the area of agricultural and community development.

1994

We signed the first headquarters agreement with the government of a host country (Madagascar).

We dealt with the emergency in Kosovo by supporting the Albanian Caritas in Shkodër in hosting Kosovar refugees.
With the refugees’ return to Kosovo, we started planning interventions in the areas of agro-zootechnology and peace education. Today, after the work of over 100 volunteers, we are still present with interventions on preschool education.
Still in 1999, following the twin-towns agreement between the Betlehem Governorate and the Province of Reggio Emilia, RTM intervened in Palestine, initially supporting a psycho-physical rehabilitation centre for minors and then with activities in support of deaf minors.

1999

2006-2009

We worked in Brazil with a project for the social inclusion of disadvantaged minors.
This was the last experience in Latin America after Bolivia (1990-92) and Ecuador (2005).

2013

We went back to northern Albania with a project against gender violence.

2015

In Palestine, a three-year project started to support kindergartens and the creation of 25 new public pre-school classes.

...it continues...