Nezaradené

VSkills for Employment

V-Skills for Employment is an online tool we have developed volunteers can use to:

  • realise,
  • name,
  • record
  • and demonstrate the competencies or skills they have acquired or developed during their volunteering.


They support their assessment with photographs, videos, documents or other outputs and outcomes of their volunteering.

The questionnaire will be verified by the volunteer coordinator(s) in the organisation where the activity was carried out.

The acquired competencies will be confirmed by a committee at the Matej Bel University in Banská Bystrica and together with the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations the volunteer will be issued with a certificate stating these competencies.

The certificate will be attached to the CV of the volunteer and/or the competencies will be directly mentioned in the CV among the work or volunteer experience.

The verified competencies will assist employers in selecting new employees for their company.

The online system V-Skills for Employment is one of the main outputs of the VOLWEM - Volunteering as Way to Employment project. The project was implemented between October 2012 and September 2014 thanks to the support of the European Commission.

Quality Brand

The Quality Brand "We can do it with volunteers" shows that the organisation works well with volunteers and understands volunteering.

It is the trademark or evaluation of an organisation based on the validation of the methods it uses when working with volunteers. The Quality Brand is awarded to organisations by the Volunteer Centres and Organisations Platform after reviewing specific practices in managing volunteers and reviewing evidence of their application, using the so-called Quality Standards.

The standards focus on the following areas of work with volunteers:

  • Coordination of volunteers
  • Legal and ethical framework
  • Financial and material resources for volunteering
  • Integration into the team
  • Job description and profile of volunteers
  • Recruitment and selection of volunteers
  • Training and preparation of volunteers
  • Communicating with and supporting volunteers
  • Awards and recognition
  • Recording, documentation, evaluation of the volunteer programme

An organisation can obtain the Quality Brand by going through a specified process of self-assessment and external evaluation by trained assessors. It has 3 levels and is awarded for three years. 

An organisation can receive one, two or three stars, which refer to the quality level of volunteer management. The more stars, the better the management system the organisation has set up.

The awarded Quality Brand is intended to guarantee prospective volunteers that the decision to volunteer with the organisation that holds it will not lead to disappointment with the organisation's approach to volunteers. 

Obtaining the Quality Brand is a signal to potential volunteers or the public who might be interested in volunteering with the organisation that the organisation recognises the immeasurable value of the work of volunteers, cares about them, wants them to feel good about the organisation, wants to look after them and treat them fairly. It is also a signal to donors that the organisation works well with volunteers and can be a strong partner for them.

The Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations provides a 10% discount on its education, trainings or workshops to holders of the Quality Brand.

Benefits in foundation grant programmes.
The following foundations also ask about the Quality Brand on their grant application forms:

 

The Quality Brand has also become part of the volunteer offers of the regional volunteer centres. 

This project was supported by the grant of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic "Programmes for Youth 2014 - 2020", administered by IUVENTA - Slovak Youth Institute.

 

VOLWEM

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VOLWEM Project

(Volunteering – Way to Employment)

Three CEV members - The Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations in Slovakia, Volunteer Development Scotland and Volunteer Centre in Usti nad Labem in Czech Republichas started a two year project (October 2012 – September 2013) under Leonardo da Vinci – Transfer of Innovation scheme. There are 5 more partners from Slovakia including Matej Bel University and four regional volunteer centres involved. Main objective of VOLWEM is to transfer two systems of work with (unemployed) volunteers from the UK and Czech republic to Slovakia in order to help them to recognize the skills gained in volunteering within the labour market and thus raise their employability.

The projects activities were as follows:

 

  • Provide Slovak volunteers with an online tool to help them enhance their prospects in seeking an employment by capturing their learning gained through their volunteer activities. The online tool – V-Skills for Employment (UK) is focused on the recognition of skills and competencies gained through volunteering – the evidence confirming the existence of these skills and competencies is collected by a volunteer himself with the support of a volunteer centre or volunteer involving organization and consequently certified by a special committee based on a college.
  • Provide professionals at labour offices and volunteer centres with a method which enables them to involve unemployed people in volunteering. This system of work called Welcome (Czech republic) is focused on volunteer centres, volunteer involving organizations, labour offices and unemployed people and its goal is to create conditions supporting the involvement of unemployed people into volunteering.
  • Make employers aware about the competencies gained through volunteering and make them recognize these skills in the process of recruitment.
  • Provide a results study of this project for institutions of formal learning, for employers, public institutions as labour offices and Ministry of Work, Family and Social Affairs in Slovakia.

 

Benefits of Volunteering for Unemployed People

 

Alžbeta Brozmanová Gregorová has worked on the final result of this project – Benefits of Volunteering for Unemployed People – VOLWEM Project . Based on the analysis of competence questionnaires and online tool D-zručnosti pre zamestnanie we can state that for unemployed people volunteering created a space for the development of specific skills, knowledge, and attitudes and thus contributed to the development of their employability. 

 

Through volunteering, the unemployed volunteers improved their ability to work in demanding and difficult situations, to make decisions, to handle stress, to work in team, to cooperate with others on solution of problems and conflicts. In the area of communication competences, the largest progress was documented in the area of development of the ability to participate in discussions, to express one´s own opinion, to actively listen to others and the development of presentation skills. Among the most developed competences related to employment and entrepreneurship we can mention these: time management, ability to lead other people, to orientate in a new working environment, skills related to project management, and creativity. In the area of social and personal competences, the largest progress reached thanks to volunteering was documented in ability to work in team, self-respect and self-confidence, and self-management of people. For a larger group of unemployed people, volunteering also created a space for improvements of the PC and Internet skills.

 

Other benefits prove that for unemployed people volunteering creates a space for:

 

  • the development of social contacts,
  • the change of attitude toward work and the acquirement of working habits,
  • the change in personal development and change in life and the life direction,
  • the feeling of personal satisfaction,
  • the change of views on various topics and issues,
  • the development of specific abilities and skills,
  • the development of knowledge on various target groups,
  • the change of opinions and attitudes related to various target groups,
  • the acquirement and development of specific skills related to work with various target groups,
  • the change of views on volunteering and NGOs.

 

 

46 out of 65 (more than 70 %) unemployed volunteers stated in the Competence questionnaires that they will name this experience in their CV. More than 90 % of the unemployed volunteers use or will use the experience in their personal and professional lives.

Benefits of Volunteering for Unemployed People – VOLWEM Project Publication can be found here.

 

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Volunteering – a Way for Activity in Senior Age

During the year 2014, we carried out a senior volunteering exchange together with our partner organization RADKA from Czech Republic.

The implementation of volunteering exchanges of seniors is often limited by a language barrier. Many seniors are worried to travel to another country for a longer time if they do not speak the language and the language barrier is very limiting also for the selection of volunteering activities these people can be involved into.

In the case of Czech – Slovak exchange, this barrier does not almost exist and it opens a space  to seniors who do not speak any foreign language.

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 Both partner organizations focused on unemployed people of the age 50+ and we involved them into activities in culture, social and health care (Mother-kids centres, hospitals, senior homes, leisure time activities for children and youth, work with disabled people).

The goal of the project was to support the life-long learning through volunteering and to provide senior volunteers with experience relevant for people over 50 who are currently unemployed.

There were 6 volunteers from Czech Republic who were sent to Slovakia and vice versa, all of them stayed in the other country for 4 weeks. Volunteers were sent in a group and in the hosting country, they volunteered for several organizations (in Slovakia they were placed in the Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations, senior home Hestia, day care center for homeless people DOMEC, and Nitra Volunteer Centre).

In the Czech republic, they were hosted by one organization but participated in different volunteer programs (mothers center, senior home, and a nursery Raduška).

Another goal of the project is to support positive relationships between Slovak and Czech citizens.

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

VTI Project

In fall 2013, we started to implement the VTI Project (Volunteering as a Tool for Inclusion). It was an international project with the overall aim to increase the social inclusion of disadvantaged and marginalised groups through volunteering in partner countries and to share already existing experience/practices/tools in the field.

The Platform acted as a coordinator for this project in cooperation with seven other partners:

 

•    Volunteer Ireland

•    Frivilligcentre og Selvhjælp Danmark (FriSe)

•    ÖKA – National Volunteer Centre, Hungary

•    Volunteer Centre Osijek, Croatia

•    PRO VOBIS – National Volunteer Centre, Romania

•    brīvprātīgais.lv, Latvia

•    Vol.To, Italy

 

Project Objectives:

1.    To share experience among partner countries on how to involve people from vulnerable groups into volunteering.

2.    To create recommendations for volunteer coordinators for cooperation with different groups of vulnerable volunteers (people with hearing and visual impairment, migrants, seniors, people with mental health difficulties, etc.). Recommendations for volunteer coordinators on how to develop a more inclusive volunteer programme

3.    To collect and publish good examples from partner countries that can serve as an inspiration for other volunteer centres and volunteer involving organizations.

Time Frame: August 2013 – July 2015

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During the project run, the partners were participating at international meetings organized in each partner country. The goal of these meetings was to share various good examples of involvement of people with disabilities or disadvantaged groups into volunteering but also to work together on project products (Collection of Good Examples and Recommendations for Volunteer Coordinators on how to work with marginalized groups in volunteering).

 

Meetings were held in this order:

 

 

•    The first meeting took place in Bratislava on November 14 – 15, 2013

•    The second meeting of partners was organized on March 6 – 7, 2014 in Dublin, Ireland

•    The third session was held in Copenhagen, Denmark on June 26 – 27, 2014

•    The fourth one was implemented from September 30 till October 1, 2014 in Turin, Italy

•    The fifth meeting was organized by Hungarian colleagues in Budapest on January 22 – 23, 2015

•    The sixth time the project partners met in Cluj-Napoca, Romania on March 12 – 13, 2015

•    The seventh meeting took place on April 22 – 23, 2015 in Zadar, Croatia

•    The last meeting of this partnership happened on June 18 – 19, 2015 in Riga, Latvia

 

 

Partnership that was formed thanks to this project was functioning really well and in addition to precious experience and valuable products, it was also a basis for new personal friendships and future cooperation. We hope that the project results will support volunteer involving organizations to be more open, they will convince them that everybody can participate in volunteering and will provide them with information that can help them to overcome their fear of hesitance of engaging people with disabilities or from marginalized groups into volunteering.

 

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Promoting volunteering to the unemployed

In the process of dealing with their situation, jobseekers encounter offers from the Labour Offices to participate in various activities or projects that are supposed to bring them new experiences, personality development or competencies that can increase their chances of finding a job on the labour market.

Volunteering is seen as a tool that leads to the above and therefore may be a suitable tool for some job seekers to meet some of their needs whilst unemployed.

Our first experience with the involvement of registered job seekers dates back to 2012-2014, when we implemented the VOLWEM project. One of its outputs was the creation of a tool to measure the development of competencies acquired through volunteering. You can read more about D-skills for employment HERE.

On the basis of our own experience, as well as foreign studies confirming the positive impact of volunteering on people, we established cooperation with the Centre for Labour, Social Affairs and Family. Through the individual Labour Offices, we announce the opportunity for volunteering to potential individuals among registered job seekers interested in volunteering.

The aim is to:

  1. inform about the nature of volunteering as defined by the Volunteering Act.
  2. provide interested persons with contacts to regional volunteer centres.
  3. provide information on available volunteering opportunities in the regions of Slovakia.
  4. present D-skills as a tool for verification of acquired competencies
  5. present the "With volunteers and we know" Quality Brand as a tool to identify a professional organisation.

Those interested in volunteering can find all the information and contacts to the regional centres on the website WWW.DOBROVOLNICTVO.COM

These activities are supported by the grant of the Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic "Programmes for Youth 2014 - 2020", which is administered by IUVENTA - Slovak Youth Institute.

European Solidarity Corps

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.

Calculating the economic value of volunteering

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

Ongoing projects

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. 

Finished projects

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/