With the aim of promoting the compassionate neighbourhood, the initiative is to tuck in the shops and the restaurants of the capital of Alava in the work of understanding and support for the citizens that they already carry out. These people, with strong ties to the neighbourhood, establish bonds of trust with customers as they are day-to-day establishments. Generating synergies with shops and restaurants and individuals in such a way that these relationships reinforce the support.

Vitoria-Gasteiz (Álava) Basque Country

VVP contributes to the creation of a city that is more aware and prepared to care for people facing a situation of vulnerability by involving different agents in the city. Through Caring Conversations, the focus is placed on shops and the restaurant owners in the capital of Alava, supporting them in the work of understanding and supporting citizens that they already carry out. Due to their strong links to the neighbourhood, they establish bonds of trust with customers as they are day-to-day establishments. For this reason, the aim is to convert this informal support into a unified network in which shops and restaurants create a network of participation that allows the neighbourhood's situations of vulnerability to be made visible.

With the implementation of Caring Conversations, the aim is to reach out to the elderly through shops and restaurants. In other words, the aim is to provide people in vulnerable situations with spaces for support and care in the community, using as a medium, in this case, the neighbourhood agents who often act as listeners. For this reason, it is considered essential to support the hospitality and shopkeepers of Vitoria by encouraging people who, through their actions, seek to change the dynamics of relations in the city.

This project is characterized by weaving a network between shops and restaurants and the public, valuing the work of the community by making them agents of care and encouraging the development of Caring Conversations. In addition, it seeks to generate links between the community and shops and the restaurant owners in which existing close relationships are strengthened and nurtured. The following activities are proposed for this purpose:
Preparation, contacting key agents and approaching shops and restaurants (involvement of key agents in the city and coordination with them to achieve their adhesion to the project and to achieve greater dissemination among citizens, participation in spaces for citizen participation).
Dissemination of the campaign and activities among citizens (creation of a website, stickers in shops and hospitality, posters, merchandising, etc.).
Training of volunteers and shops and the hospitality (Training that promotes agents of change, carrying out face-to-face sessions such as videos as small, short,
dynamic and accessible training pills for everyone. Thus approaching the subject of communication, unwanted loneliness, etc.).
Citizen participation through meetings and cultural activities ("Tuning silences in loneliness" which would consist of coordinating and carrying out three concerts in December, March and June to celebrate Christmas, spring etc.)

Caring Conversations seeks to contribute to the theory of change through the development of a new vision of vulnerability. To this end, the aim is to turn the community, and especially the local business and hospitality sector, into agents of care that can generate change. The fact of starting from a new paradigm allows for innovation when planning actions, as they place people at the centre and are created by the community itself, thus avoiding approaches where services take precedence over people. Therefore, through this philosophy, the aim is to consolidate a care network capable of promoting the visibility of situations of vulnerability in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The VVP project is constituted by people who are directly or indirectly part of the entity, thus being active subjects in the activities. The project promotes and encourages the participation of citizens as agents of care and facilitators of encounter, support and creation of friendly environments, through a Compassionate Neighbourhood awareness. In other words, Living with a VVP does not work FOR citizens, but works WITH them. That is why, indirectly, the citizens who participate or have participated are indirectly part of the project. A clear example of this is the importance of the volunteer team and the work they do, actively participating in the organisation, management and implementation of the different initiatives.

VVP is a project born from the non-profit association MAP. It brings together a group of professionals and volunteers committed to caring for people in vulnerable situations, with
advanced illness and/or in a situation of loneliness. VVP promotes a person-centred approach, promoting integral development, enhancing all capacities and needs, with special emphasis on psycho-socio-affective and spiritual aspects.

It aims to reflect on suffering and revalue the need for care, promoting the development of skills and resources that help people to face their experience in a different way. By listening to people's wishes, beliefs, desires and decisions and offering support to sustain their own voice.

material for activities 8206 EUR.
Personnel costs 41256 EUR.
Office expenses 3462 EUR.

We would like to extend caring conversations into an open dialogue of small actions that together lead a silent revolution on care and compassion.