There is a wealth that GDP does not measure: the many forms of citizen participation. And it is a significant and widespread resource. Voluntary activities, those linked to environmental and territorial issues, culture, rather than leisure and sports: they all contribute to generating our social capital. Which is made up of both symbolic and economic dimensions. Because active participation in associative forms creates shared values, unites people and communities in a common vision of their existence and future. Like so many little ants swarming over the territory, through the various forms of volunteering, networks of relations are nurtured, information and initiatives are exchanged, that thread is woven that allows a territory to experience integration and support between people. Even of different backgrounds. Even in those territories where the media only give voice, for example, to those who are against migrants. Indeed, precisely there paradoxically we find widespread initiatives of solidarity and support. All these activities are fundamental elements of our social cohesion. The objection we most often hear, and it is also the recurring concern, is that people participate little: it is difficult to call people together. Admittedly, there are very few voluntary organisations today capable of mobilising - as they say - the masses, as there used to be for large associations or parties (which were often inclined to set up pre-arranged participations).
