(ANS – Cagliari) – In 2022, something meaningful happened in Valdocco. For the first time, members from the Youth Ministry and Mission sectors came together to chart a common path for missionary volunteering. That meeting marked the birth of a shared strategic plan, a global effort to strengthen Salesian Missionary Volunteering (SMV) across the Congregation.

Fast forward to 2025. The Advisory Team reunited in Sardinia to reflect on the journey so far and evaluate what has been achieved. The meeting was part assessment and analysis, and part looking ahead. It offered space to pause, learn, and ask: how far have we come, and what do we need to move forward?

The evaluation showed that just over 50% of the action steps laid out in the 2022–2025 Strategic Plan have been completed. This number isn’t based on a weighted system; rather, it’s a straight average across all goals, recognizing that this was the Team’s first attempt to build a congregational roadmap for SMV.

Even so, progress is real. The global SMV meeting, a major milestone, successfully brought together volunteer coordinators from around the world. An online platform was initiated, aimed at improving communication and information sharing between sending and receiving communities. Formation, one of the heartbeats of the mission, began to see greater cohesion across different regions.

What also became clear during this process is that good intentions and strategic plans, while essential, need something more: structure. With all Advisory Team members serving on an advisory basis, many of the more ambitious goals proved difficult to implement. The group realized that without a dedicated operational team, certain plans remain ideas rather than actions.

This evaluation isn’t a conclusion; it’s a checkpoint. The experience of the past three years has provided valuable insight, not just into what worked, but into what’s needed next. As the Advisory Team begins to outline a new strategy, the focus will be on grounding vision in realistic capacity, so that SMV can continue growing in depth, reach, and impact. Be attentive to the next article where the next strategic plan will be shared.  

To request a copy of the evaluation document, please email SalesianVol@sdb.org.