The aim of the Association for Voluntary Work Assignments KDS is to support mountain farming families who have fallen into hardship or whose farms are located in extreme situations and would, from an economic perspective, require major restructuring. Each year, the association supports between 270 and 320 mountain farms across South Tyrol.
Thanks to its many years of activity and repeated on-site visits to the farms, the staff are well informed about each individual farm and know the farming families personally.
Support is available to mountain farmers whose farms are located above 1,000 metres above sea level and who have at least 60 disadvantage points. Other factors taken into account include the family’s health, financial and social situation, as well as their relationship with neighbours and involvement in village life.
Volunteers help with harvesting work in the fields and meadows, in the cowsheds, with forestry work and household tasks, and they support the care of elderly people, people with disabilities and children.
The main appeal for volunteers lies in experiencing the mountain farmers’ way of life “up close”. Once back home, most of them report that the experience of working away from their everyday routine, in direct contact with nature and in the fresh air, has given them more than it cost them in effort.
The Association for Mountain Volunteering was founded in 1997 by the South Tyrolean Farmers’ Association, Caritas of Bolzano-Bressanone, Lebenshilfe ONLUS and the Südtiroler Jugendring ODV. Most volunteers come from Germany and South Tyrol, but farms also regularly host people from other Italian provinces, other European countries and other continents.
All volunteers work on an unpaid basis and receive no reimbursement of expenses. The association’s governing bodies also work on a voluntary basis. However, office costs are continuously rising due to accident insurance for volunteers and the increasing organisational workload. These costs have to be covered by the supporting organisations, as public funding is decreasing from year to year.