Nezaradené

Formerly the European Voluntary Service (EVS), today the European Solidarity Corps (ESC) is a European Union initiative that gives young people aged 18 to 30 the opportunity to volunteer or participate in their own country or abroad in projects that benefit communities and people across Europe.

The European Solidarity Corps aims to foster solidarity and create a more inclusive society, supporting vulnerable people and responding to social challenges. To this end, the ESC combines the support and involvement of young people and organisations in interesting and particularly rewarding projects on the basis of a win-win strategy, where all those involved meet their needs and benefit from it.

It offers an inspiring and empowering experience for young people who want to help, learn and develop. They can develop their personal potential, social and professional skills, talents and abilities, and use these in their private lives and future careers.

How it works

Young people aged between 17 and 30 can register on the European Solidarity Corps portal and look for the right opportunity for them. Accredited organisations that have access to the database can invite registrants to take part in solidarity projects or offer specific opportunities to which young people can respond directly.

The Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations in the European Solidarity Corps 

In January 2019, the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations was awarded the Quality Brand for sending volunteers abroad and hosting foreign volunteers within the European Solidarity Corps volunteering activities. On the basis of the Quality Brand, you can find us in the international database of accredited organisations published on this website https://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisations_en

In April 2019, a project called Discover Volunteering (2019-2020) was supported by the National Agency under the EU Erasmus+ programme.

If you would like more information about the opportunities for hosting a volunteer within the Volunteer Centres and Organisations Platform, please contact Ida Adolf at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / +421 918 326 416.

The methodology for calculating and proving the economic value of volunteering has been developed by the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations on the basis of existing foreign and Slovak recommendations and methodologies. The starting points were mainly the International Labour Organisation (ILO) manual on calculating the economic value of volunteering, the EEA and Norway Grants applicants' manuals, data from the Statistical Office of the Slovak Republic and the European Youth Foundation methodologies.

The different parts of the methodology:

• Volunteering as co-funding or as "in-kind contribution",
• Evidencing the number of volunteers, hours worked and calculating the economic value of volunteer work to the project.
• Possible methodologies for calculating the economic value of volunteer hours.

Options for calculating the economic value of volunteering:

1. Calculation based on average gross wages by occupational class
2. Calculation based on average gross wages regardless of occupational class
3. Calculation based on the minimum wage graduated according to the difficulty of the work
4. Calculation based on the minimum wage irrespective of the difficulty of the work

Prepared by:

Mgr. Alžbeta Frimmerová
doc. PhDr. Alžbeta Brozmanová Gregorová, PhD

Engaged School

The project, funded by the Slovak Savings Bank Foundation, focused on activities to support the introduction of service-learning strategies into formal education. The project lasted from 1 May 2021 to 1 November 2021 and its aim was to promote the Engaged School brand which raises the profile of schools that support the education and training of children and young people for volunteering.

The second edition of the national Engaged School Award aimed to contribute to strengthening the motivation of schools to introduce education for volunteering into their curricula and to bring recognition to good examples of practice. By presenting interesting examples of linking formal and non-formal education, showing how to apply the knowledge gained in school to address real community needs, it sought to strengthen awareness of the role of schools in preparing young people for life in a democratic society.

The project included training of staff in various schools across Slovakia. The accredited Service-Learning in Education and Training of Children and Youth for Volunteering training, which we have in our training offer, is aimed at teachers, educators and school staff who want to develop education for volunteering in their pupils.

For more information about the Engaged School Award, please visit the official website:www.angazovanaskola.sk.

Volunteering as an Educational Opportunity (EDUVOL)

EDUVOL is an Erasmus+ funded international project in which 5 organisations have entered into a strategic partnership on the basis of previous cooperation on other activities.

The project aims to:

- develop the capacity of organisations working with youth to more effectively exploit the potential of volunteering as a learning opportunity,

- to support the development of young people's personality, key competencies and civic engagement through a service-learning volunteering experience.

We want to achieve these main objectives through training youth workers in the service-learning method, its concept and possibilities of use in working with volunteers and involving young people in local projects implemented using this method which will create opportunities for their development.

The project is based on the experience and expertise of the partners in the field of implementation of volunteering and the service-learning method. This method has been adapted and used in education in Western Europe and America for several years. Central and Eastern Europe is still getting acquainted with this method. Therefore, the project aims to develop and provide the public with service-learning training, training materials for trainers and a manual for youth workers and youth on how to implement service-learning projects.

The project is coordinated by the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations.

Project partners:

Croatia: Rijeka, Udruga za razvoj civilnog drustva SMART, www.smart.hr,

Poland:  Warsawa, Stowarzyszenie Centrum Wolontariatu (SCW), www.wolontariat.waw.pl,

Romania: Cluj-Napoca, Asociatia Pro Vobis – Centrul National de Resurse pentru Voluntariat, www.provobis.ro

Hungary: Budapešť, Önkéntes Központ Alapítvány, www.onkentes.hu

Project duration: 01.09.2019 – 31.05.2022

YOUTH SERVICES

The Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport and IUVENTA - Slovak Youth Institute regularly support our activities.  They provide subsidies for the implementation of activities at the national level. These are aimed at improving services for the benefit of young people and ultimately at creating favourable conditions for the development of volunteering in the future. 

The priority of the DCO Platform is to support the creation of a quality volunteering infrastructure in Slovakia to make it easier and more accessible for all to get involved in volunteering.  

We cooperate with regional volunteer centres on national campaigns and support newly established ones.

To strengthen the status and positive perception of volunteering in society, we continue to work on improving the recognition of skills and experience gained through volunteering, promoting volunteering, the work of volunteer organisations and centres primarily through the use of online tools, and continuing to recognise volunteering in cooperation with regional volunteer centres.

We promote the quality of work in volunteering by training volunteer coordinators, continuing to introduce quality standards for work with volunteers and setting standards for volunteer centres. We continue to be available to local government organisations and businesses for consultation on volunteering related issues.

In connection with the Concept of Education and Training of Children and Youth on Volunteering, we will also focus on introducing volunteering into schools through the offer of training in the topic of Service-Learning and the implementation of a national round of awards for projects implemented through this method under the name of Engaged Schools 

We are continuously continuing our advocacy activities aimed at creating a more favourable environment for the work of voluntary organisations. 

Discover Volunteering - ESS project

Discover Volunteering! was a 20-month project (5/2019 - 12/2020) under the EU programme European Solidarity Corps (ESS), which in cooperation with the partner organisation in Spain Asociaciación Gantalcalá included activities ranging from the search and selection of a suitable candidate, preparation and deployment of the volunteer in the host country, to the welcoming and hosting of the volunteer in Slovakia at the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations for a period of 12 months. 

The purpose of the project was to create the opportunity for self-development, gaining experience, skills and competencies for young people aged 18 - 30, and to positively support their direction and application in their personal and professional life.

Through the experience of functioning in the conditions of a different culture and customs, as well as active participation in volunteer activities in our organisation, the participants of the exchange had the opportunity to understand the importance of civic participation and commitment to the benefit of others, to develop not only personally and professionally, but also to participate in the promotion of the development and dissemination of the idea of volunteering and solidarity as such, and thus help to support the goals and needs of our organisation.

Discover Volunteering! / No. 2019-1-SK02-ESC11-002044 was administered by the National Agency Erasmus+ for Youth and Sport, Iuventa - Slovak Youth Institute, within the framework of the European Solidarity Corps programme funded by the European Union.

IMPROVAL

ImproVal is a two-year Erasmus+ project (Key Action 2 Strategic partnerships), involving five partners from five European countries (Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Slovakia).

The project kicked-off in Helsinki, Finland on October 29-30th 2018 and aims to provide a synthesis of the work undertaken in the EU on the validation of volunteering experience. It will do so by bringing together the coordinators of a number of previous validation projects, making the methods, tools and thinking behind validation of learning in the voluntary sector known through a validation compendium, conducting a small-scale study on the usefulness of validation for volunteers, and by encouraging a dialogue between relevant stakeholders locally, nationally and at European level.

More information: http://www.improval.eu/

SOVOL

SoVol is in short the name of the project“CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE SOCIAL SECTOR through the Development of Volunteer Programs at Social Institutions in the CEE Region”.

The main goal of the project was to strengthen the capacity of social facilities in Central and Eastern Europe to provide quality services for disadvantaged groups of people, such as people at risk of poverty, the elderly, people with disabilities or people from national minorities.

SoVol is implemented by Önkéntes Központ Alapítvány, Volunteering Hungary – Centre of Social Innovation (www.onkentes.hu, http://www.oka.hu) in partnership with the Platform of Volunteer Centers and Organizations Slovakia, (www.dobrovolnickecentra.sk), the Association for Civil Society Development SMART in Croatia, (www.volonterski-centar-ri.org), Volunteer Centre, Warsaw in Poland (www.wolontariat.org.pl), Pro Vobis – National Resource Center for Volunteerism in Romania, (www.provobis.ro) and Movisie – the Netherlands centre for social development, (www.movisie.nl) from September 1st 2016 until August 31th 2019, and funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ Program

More info https://sovol.wordpress.com/

LEVOLL APP

Levol-app is a European partnership to improve the volunteering management programmes of non-profit organisations through an online training platform created on five languages.

It was a 28-month strategic partnership at EU level funded by Erasmus+ and its Key Action 2 for the development of VET coordinated by Pista Mágica – Associação (Portugal) with the support of Neo Sapiens (Spain), Associazione di Promozione Sociale Futuro Digitale (Italy), Platforma dobrovolnickych centier a organizacii (PDCO) (Slovakia) and the Birmingham voluntary Service Council (BVSC) (United Kingdom).

As a result, partners created an online platform on five languages to support NGOs on the creation or improvement of programmes to better engage volunteers as active citizens and improve the competences and professional skills of the volunteer managers.

More information: https://www.levol-app.eu/outputs/

Through implementation of our national and international projects we strive to:

• promote inclusive volunteering (engaging disadvantaged and marginalized people into volunteering)

• recognize volunteering as a tool for informal learning, a tool for acquiring new skills, and an opportunity for personal and professional growth

• support and improve the quality of volunteer management , volunteer coordinators, and volunteer centers

• carry-out cross-border mobilities of volunteers.

ADDRESS:
Platforma dobrovoľníckych centier a organizácií / The Platform of Volunteer Centers and Organizations
Ružová 13
974 01 Banská Bystrica

MAILING ADDRESS / OFFICE
Platforma dobrovoľníckych centier a organizácií
Lazovná 5
974 01 Banská Bystrica

Company registration number: 42257221

PIC no: 940301220 

OID no: E10143098

Quality Label Accreditation Reference: 2018-1-SK02-ESC52-002034 (European Solidarity Corps Quality Label for hosting and supporting)

Bank account: SK35 1100 0000 0029 2390 5018

CONTACTS:

• email: platforma(at)dobrovolnickecentra.sk
• skype: dobrovolnicke_centra
• facebook: Platforma dobrovoľníckych centier a organizácií
• LinkedIn: Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organizations 
• Youtube: Platforma dobrovoľníckych centier a organizácií

Annual Reports

• Annual report 2020

Bylaws

• Bylaws of the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organizations

• A Leaflet of the Platform (bilingual slovak/english)
• Design manual

Logos:

• colour logo in jpg format
• black-and-white logo in jpg format
• inverse black-and-white logo in jpg format

Our work is supported thanks to the generous support of:

Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic 

IUVENTA - Slovak Youth Institute 

Erasmus+ programme 

The Office of the Plenipotentiary for the Development of the Civil Society

Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic

 companies Gekon, White & Weiss, web portal Kariera.sk, nebotra s.r.o., VICOVÁ & ŠUMICHRAST advokátska kancelária, Triad advertising

We are also very grateful for cooperation with graphic designer and visual artist Mária Čorejová. 

Thank you for your support. 

Centre for European Volunteering

The Platform is a full member of the Centre for European Volunteering (Centre européen du volontariat - CEV), based in Brussels.

The CEV brings together more than 80 national, regional and local volunteer centres and agencies promoting volunteering in Europe. The CEV promotes and supports volunteering through advocacy, knowledge sharing, capacity building and training. Through this network, it has an impact on thousands of volunteers and voluntary organisations seeking support in volunteer centres and brings a European dimension to their work. Together with other European networks active in volunteering, it shares strategies, information and good practice experiences to ensure that the objectives of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 are pursued in an effective and coherent manner. It also does so by implementing the various recommendations summarised in the P.A.V.E (Policy Agenda for Volunteering in Europe). In 2020, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the CEV underwent a transformation linked to a rebranding after in-depth analysis and reflection. 

Government Council for Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organisations

The Platform is a member of the Government Council for Non-Governmental Non-Profit Organisations. In the Council it promotes interests in favour of the development of volunteering in Slovakia.

The Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations was intensively involved in the preparation of the Concept for the Development of Civil Society approved by the Slovak Government in February 2012.

Members of the Platform worked on the drafting, commenting and amending Act No. 406/2011 Coll. on Volunteering and on Amendments and Additions to Certain Acts and as part of the Government Council on the drafting and commenting of the Act on the Register of NGOs.

Voice of Civil Society Organisations, a nationwide platform of non-profit organisations

Since autumn 2019, we have been members of the Voice of Civil Society Organisations, a platform of civic initiatives and non-governmental non-profit organisations that wants to actively participate in the protection and development of civil society in Slovakia. The principles of its functioning are voluntarism, partnership approach, democratic decision-making, pluralism, personal civic engagement and encouragement to it, solidarity and subsidiarity.

The main objectives are:

1. To promote the positive development of the institutional, legislative and financial framework for the functioning of CSOs.
2. To strengthen the integrity, transparency and coherence of the civil society sector.
3. Create opportunities for cooperation between CSOs and organisations and support their activities.

 For more information see: www.platformahlas.sk.

Global Network of Volunteering Leadership 

Global Network of Volunteering Leadership (GNVL) is a new programme of IAVE that brings together networks from national and regional levels dedicated to promoting, developing and raising awareness of the value of volunteering to work together towards their goals.

Membership of GNVL offers us the opportunity to:

• participate in online meetings, webinars, lectures and discussions dealing with various topics that are current in the world of volunteering,
• apply for grants to develop the organisation's capacity,
• apply for an internship in an organisation's leadership development programme,
• the opportunity to work together to advocate for volunteering and strengthen its recognition by engaging in global initiatives.

International Association for Volunteer Effort

The Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations became a member of the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) as of April 2020. The latter has been promoting, empowering and celebrating volunteering for 50 years, using the myriad of ways that volunteering takes place in the world.

IAVE has members in more than 70 countries around the world, bringing them together in a global network of volunteer leaders, NGOs, businesses and volunteer centres that share a belief in the power of volunteering to make a meaningful contribution to solving the world's most pressing problems.

By being part of such a network, we have the opportunity to stay up-to-date on the world of volunteering, to be inspired by examples of good practice and to share our expertise. We can also participate in interesting educational events. 

In addition to becoming a member, organisations and individuals can also become a "Global Friend of Volunteering" and strengthen the global volunteering movement, free of charge. For more information on opportunities and benefits, please visit: www.iave.org/join-now.

To learn more about IAVE, visit the organization's website: www.iave.com.

Private and legal entities applying for the membership in the Platform should submit the application. In case of legal entity, the application should be signed by the statutory representative of the applying organization and should consist of:

• the declaration that the organization/institution meets all requirements for the full membership as stated above,
• contact details for the applicant and for a person who will represent the applicant organization in the Platform,
• description of the applicant organization/institution.

The approval of the membership is made by the general assembly of the Platform and is based on the application.

Membership fee is 50 Euro per year.

Who can be a Member?

Any legal entity focused on the development of volunteering can become a member of the Platform, however, it should carry out at least three of the following activities:

• the development of volunteer opportunities within community in the partnership with other organizations,
• strengthening the positive image of volunteering,
• stimulating the interest of wide public for volunteering,
• helping the development of volunteer programs and activities within organizations and organizations and/or communities and supporting the cooperation and networking in this area,
• connecting people willing to volunteer with organizations in need of volunteers,
• focusing on the creation of political strategy leading toward the creation of favourable social climate for volunteering.

Private entity also can become a member of the Platform, however, the minimum age is 18 and he/she should be allied to the idea of the development of volunteering.

Benefits for the Members of the Platform:

• regular information and experience-sharing in the area of volunteering in Slovakia and other countries,
• advocacy on behalf of volunteering and its support on the level of state, municipalities, and other relevant stakeholders,
• discounts and priority participation in events and programs organized by the Platform – such as educational events, supervisions, and consultations,
• opportunity to cooperate on international projects.