Category: European Projects

Volunteering Equality Rights Action

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

Volunteer Ireland is delighted to announce that we have been awarded funding under two strands of the Volunteering Equality Rights Action (VERA) 2024 grant.

Volunteering and Equality

Volunteer Ireland has been awarded €11,225 under the Volunteering and Equality strand to deliver a project between 1st April and 10th December 2024. The project will see us undertake a consultation with volunteers and organisations that involve volunteers to inform two reports on diversity in volunteering. One report will focus specifically on the area of disability while the other will be a broader report focusing on diversity in general including long-lasting conditions; ethnic background; health; ethnic background; gender and age. We will also conduct a mapping exercise of the Blueprint for European Volunteering 2030 (BEV2030) against the Irish National Volunteering Strategy. Based on this mapping, we will produce a national volunteer development plan that is focused specifically on rights of people with disabilities and other diverse backgrounds.

Rights and Action

Volunteer Ireland has been awarded €11,225 under the Rights and Action strand to deliver a project between 1st April and 10th December 2024. This project will see us deliver training to organisations that involve volunteers on how they can make their volunteering programmes more inclusive to people with disabilities. We will support Volunteer Centres to develop strategies to engage people with disabilities in volunteering. We will also ensure that National Volunteering Week 2024 (20th – 26th May) celebrates the diversity and uniqueness of volunteers across Ireland.

Learn more about VERA 2024.

Outputs

Factsheet – Volunteering with a disability

Getting started – Supporting volunteers with a disability

National Volunteer Development Plan

NVS_BEV mapping

Second partners meeting of eQyvOL Erasumus+ project

Posted on by Volunteer

Project Meeting onlineOn 1st September 2021, the second meeting of the eQyvol project took place online.

In this meeting, the project partners defined the methodology for the consultation that we will carry out in all EU countries in order to identify the most commonly used quality standards in youth volunteering across the EU.

eQyvol Erasmus+ projetThe results from the consultation will be used to produce the first version of the European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering. Next, we will organise a pilot testing involving youth volunteering organisations from all across the EU. Based on the feedback from the testers, we will define and implement the necessary improvements before the publication of the final version of the European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering in November 2022.

For further information on the eQyvol project, please contact: [email protected] Find out more at www.eqyvol.eu and follow us at Twitter @eQyvol and Facebook @eQyvol

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union

Kickoff meeting of the project European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering

Posted on by Volunteer

eQyvol Erasmus+ projetOn 8th June, the kickoff meeting of the European project European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering took place online.

The project aims at defining and disseminating across the EU the first European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering.

In this first meeting of the project, the delegates from the eight partner organisations established the guidelines and work plan for the definition of the standards.

Once the first version of the quality standard is ready in February 2022, the project partners will organise a pilot testing involving youth volunteering organisations from all across the EU. Based on the feedback from the testers, the project partners will define and implement the necessary improvements before the publication of the final version of the European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering in November 2022.

The project European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering is an initiative of the Spanish Volunteer Platform (Spain) in collaboration with: Centre for European Volunteering (Belgium), Volunteer Ireland (Ireland), CSVnet (Italy), FriSe (Denmark), DKolektiv (Croatia), Big Brothers Big Sisters of Bulgaria (Bulgaria), and Neptelia (Spain). The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union

Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union

Learning from our European colleagues

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

Siobhan Johnston, Volunteering Development Officer with Kerry Volunteer Centre recently attended the ‘Equal Volunteering Opportunities for All’ Erasmus + seminar in Villanova, Barcelona. Here she tells Volunteer Ireland about her experience and what she learned.

I was delighted to be invited by Volunteer Ireland to attend this seminar.  I represented Kerry Volunteer Centre amongst 16 other organisations including 15 nationalities. I gained new knowledge relating to intercultural exchange, policy and advocacy development and many insightful approaches to inclusive volunteering were explored. It was interesting to hear about the different volunteer movements, strategies and policies across Europe and to learn why these variances exist. For example, countries civil society, political history, volunteer and economic situations affect how volunteering is viewed from public perspectives and how supported they are within their governmental frameworks.

Conversely, it was surprising to discover Volunteer Management and Youth work are not recognised professions in some European Countries. However, the collective passion for Volunteering in each European society was evident. By learning and sharing with my volunteer contemporaries I realised that we all had one thing in common; our wish to make volunteering accessible for all and our belief in the intrinsic benefits of volunteering for communities, the individual and humanity at large. Volunteering being the pulse of democracy and the foundation which promotes neighbourliness within society.

The seminar mainly focussed on volunteer best practices for engagement with people that may be ignored in society including migrants, refugees and members of a cultural minority. Such individuals face the risk of social exclusion due to poverty, discrimination and the notion that increasing numbers of people are viewed as ‘newcomers’, ‘foreigners’, ‘different’ and ‘the other’, even if born in Europe.

Insightful approaches to inclusive volunteering were discussed. Key points were:

  • The power of civic engagement and that volunteering should be a democratic right as it enhances social mobility and active citizenship
  • Learning new ways on how to diversify, increase and improve the support given to young people who are asylum seekers and refugees to become leaders of new projects and activities
  • Developing relevant Volunteer Management competencies to become leaders of social integration
  • Exploring what adjustments are needed to include such individuals in organisations/community groups

A collective opinion shared throughout the seminar was that volunteering can act as a tool for social cohesion. By bringing people together from different backgrounds and cultures it highlights that perhaps the ‘other’ is not to be feared or misunderstood. Volunteering plays a huge role in facilitating the reception and integration of asylum seekers and refugees into local communities and prevents xenophobic attitudes forming. Charities and volunteers help support this integration by providing language learning opportunities (Failte Isteach), ‘Information Givers’ help refugees navigate healthcare services, appointing ‘Diversity Officers’ in local sports clubs, coaching such individuals on their pathway to employment and by providing the opportunity to have direct contact with citizens (befrienders) and thereby better understand the local culture. Volunteering is also a reciprocal arrangement and people that support refugees gain exposure to new traditions and customs.

I love what I do as a profession but through this seminar, I now see the bigger picture. Our role as Volunteer Officers/Managers should never be understated. By encouraging the engagement of the most vulnerable within our society, we can help to challenge stereotypes and encourage inclusiveness, where people of all walks of life are treated with utmost respect and dignity. We can be leaders in our community by promoting diverse/integrative programmes that both supports and welcomes asylum seekers and refugees. Whereby, volunteering activities provide a platform of discovery, a sense of value and purpose and a feeling of positive contribution within their new homes.

Equal Volunteering Opportunities for All

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

An international seminar ‘Equal Volunteering Opportunities for All’ will take place from 1 to 7 September, in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona) with the participation of 25 managers, volunteer coordinators, educators, leaders and trainers actively involved in 18 non-profit and non-governmental entities (including 5 local and national volunteer centres from 13 countries: Turkey, Italy, Portugal Greece, Northern Macedonia, United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Croatia, Romania, Germany, Catalonia and Bulgaria.  Ireland is represented by Siobhan Johnston from Kerry Volunteer Centre and Stuart Garland from Volunteer Ireland.

The seminar, organised by the Fundació Catalunya Voluntaria with the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Commission, will allow us to learn from the different experiences and join efforts for a common goal, shared by all the entities, to help young people of non-EU nationalities to volunteer and express their solidarity, their capacities and their culture for the benefit of the whole population and, especially, for the benefit of the most vulnerable groups.

For this, we will analyse, first of all, what difficulties they face in participating in volunteering initiatives, which is caused by a particularly complex situation (uncertainty, insecurity, risk of social exclusion and poverty, if not because of being discriminated against),and secondly, share experiences, practices, mistakes and successes and identify those management, educational and social tools that, due to their inclusive, participative, formative and results-oriented nature, may be more relevant to improve our work.

The seminar will address the lack of a subjective right to volunteer and how this lack of foresight implies institutionalised discrimination against many people, by preventing them from joining a volunteer organisation because of their administrative situation.

In the seminar, we will reflect on the role of voluntary organisations and centres as a driving force behind citizenship and active social inclusion and we will learn, from each other, to design programs focused on promoting participation, initiative, leadership and cultural expression. Moreover, we will focus on the difficulties that may exist, and find new perspectives and ways of working and, thanks to the use of a methodology based on peer learning and exchange, we will create new knowledge in a collaborative way.

The focus of the FCV is on being able to identify those practices and tools that work and on developing 5 specific competencies, which are volunteer management; intercultural communication; management of cultural diversity; conflict management and global awareness, these are competences with great value in themselves, selected on this occasion for their usefulness at the moment of incorporating people as volunteers with diverse profiles, personal experiences and cultures.

e-VOC: Fourth Transnational Meeting in Galway (Ireland)

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

On 18th and 19th June, the four partner organisations of the e-VOC project met in Galway (Ireland) for the fourth project meeting.

The e-VOC project aims at improving the offer, accessibility and quality of training for the professionals of the European voluntary sector on the validation of competences. To do so, four organisations from four European countries have joined forces to develop the first open and multilingual online training course for the professionals of the European voluntary sector on the validation of competences.

During this meeting, the partners presented and evaluated the improvements implemented on the online training course since the last meeting in Rome, in January 2018. Afterwards, the partners went through the plan for the next project activities: the events that will take place in Spain, Italy, Netherlands and Ireland to present the online training course to Volunteer Coordinators and other professionals from the voluntary sector.

The online training course will be accessible for free in three languages (English, Spanish and Italian) from September 2018. Those who are interested in accessing the online training course as soon as it is published can now register at www.e-voc.eu

This project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, is a joint initiative of: the Spanish Volunteering Platform (Spain), CSVnet (Italy), EDOS Foundation (Netherlands), and National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland).

For further information at www.e-voc.eu

 

e-VOC (Validation of Competencies) Project Update

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

The e-VOC Team in Rome at a Partners Meeting

The e-VOC project aims at improving the offer, accessibility and quality of training for the professionals of the European voluntary sector on the validation of competences. To do so, four organisations from four European countries have joined forces to develop the first open and multilingual online training course for the professionals of the European voluntary sector on the validation of competences. During the first day of the meeting, the partners from Italy and Spain presented the results from the testing carried out with professionals of the voluntary sector from Italy and Spain. During the second day, the delegates from the four partner organisations evaluated the results from the testing and defined the improvements to be implemented on the online training course. These improvements will be presented during the next project meeting, in Galway (Ireland), planned for June 2018. This project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, is a joint initiative of: the Spanish Volunteering Platform (Spain), CSVnet (Italy), EDOS Foundation (Netherlands), and National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland) along with Volunteer Ireland.

Erasmus+ Programme

e-VOC: Online training for Volunteer Coordinators on the validation of competences

Posted on by Volunteer Ireland

The e-VOC project aims to offer a new online learning module thereby improving accessibility and quality of training for Volunteer Coordinators on the validation of volunteer competences. To do so, four organisations from four European countries have joined forces to develop the first open and multilingual online training course for Volunteer Coordinators on the validation of nonformal learning competences in the voluntary sector.

Between 12th and 16th December 2016, the four partner organisations of the e-VOC project met in Madrid (Spain) for the first project meeting.

The first day of the meeting began with a warm welcome from Luciano Poyato (President of the Spanish Volunteering Platform) and Mar Amate (Director of the Spanish Volunteering Platform) who congratulated the delegates from the partner organisations for their commitment to improving the quality and accessibility of training for Volunteer Coordinators in Europe.

Working together until spring 2018 the partners will co-design, test and launch the online module for Volunteer Managers. Volunteer Managers that complete the module will be to create learning outcomes for their volunteer programmes with the aim of bringing their volunteers on a formal educational journey aligned with accreditation systems. Volunteers will be able to map their learning from their experiences to the programme learning outcomes and be able to demonstrate active learning. In leveraging Volunteer Managers capacity to instil a love of learning with volunteers, the module will highlight lifelong learning opportunities.

The delegates used the first project meeting to set strong foundations for the work of the partnership. In particular, they worked on the development of the training content, reviewing the work done so far by each partner organisation and sharing feedback and advice to help each other.

The next step will be to finalise the development of the online training content before the second project meeting in Bemmel (The Netherlands), planned for May 2017. During the meeting in Bemmel, the delegates from the partner organisations will prepare for the next project activity, the testing of the online training course with Volunteer Coordinators from Italy and Spain.

This project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, is a joint initiative of: the Spanish Volunteering Platform (Spain), CSVnet (Italy), EDOS Foundation (The Netherlands), and National University of Ireland, Galway and Volunteer Ireland (Ireland).