5. DAY: Inspiration from S.T.O.P., volunteer expectation management

The day started with review of previous day. The previous day was field activity which includes study visit of Ostrava. People were divided in group of 4/5 and asked to explore city. Couple of groups was given a task to explore and visit local NGOs and municipal services.

The trainer Cosmin asked about local nonprofit Organization NGO named ADRA, Alessandro and Beston explained the objectives and activity of ADRA

From this review the next activity was pretty much related. A successful local NGO named S.T.O.P was invited as Guest to share the idea and experience of their organization

Mgr. Ivona represented her Organization S.T.O.P. and talked about basic ideas of freedom/tolerance/equality/opportunity which makes the basis of their organization. She explained the projects which includes lectures/Education for children of socially unstable/poor conditioned families. The volunteers visit their homes and with consent of parents and STOP officials, start helping in subjects of socializing/science/language/mathematics/music and sports etc. Anything which can improve the learning process of kids and providing the material to make it happen. The annual Budget of organization started from 10,000/ euros in 2001 and is around 80000/euros now. Most of Budget comes from government/Ministry of Interior. Outdoor activities and travelling for kids are also added on monthly basis.

The 2^nd part of the day was dedicated to conflict management and expectation management. The idea was made adventurous and interesting by trainers Cosmin/Suren by simulating conflict situations in lack of communication scenarios (chair acquisition/tasks conflicts). Participants were told about real life situations and stages of conflicts, when and where to intervene as volunteer coordinator and avoid/stop conflicts

The day ended on high note by a thought provoking talk on art of listening. This day was awesome and informative in all possible ways. From real life story of STOP to challenges of conflict.

Authors of the article: Jan (Italy), Paulina (Poland)

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4. DAY: Make a research in Ostrava!

The group departed for Ostrava for a study visit and a bit of city exploration. We were separated in 5 teams and we were assigned to interview random local people from different ages groups, asking them 3 questions regarding volunteering to find out if they were familiar with the term or if they had volunteered by any chance. Each group had an extra different task like visiting a hospital, a local NGO etc. and ask if they need volunteers to cover their activities. Every unique group had different experiences and their own challenges. We also had free time to enjoy a decent cup of coffee. The bad weather didn’t distract our great mood and we continued enjoying our trip. Getting back to the venue, the majority was exhausted while other took the advantage of the free evening to play board games. Author of the article: Filipe (Portugal)

Summary of the training course

On 6/10/2017 33 people from 9 countries (Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and Sweden) met in a castle in Bartošovice, Czech Republic. They came to participate in a training course “ Volunteer boost ” organised by a NGO “ Brno for you s.z. ” and co-funded by European Union under the frame of Erasmus+ programme. For 8 days participants dealt with topics related to volunteering and volunteer management, e.g. recruitment and selection of volunteers, conflict management, active listening and volunteer recognition. Main idea of the project was to build capacity for youth organisations in Europe working with, or involving volunteers in their daily work and activities by providing professional volunteer management competencies to their youth workers and trying to involve as many and as various organizations as possible. The project was facilitated by certified youth worker and experienced trainer Cosmin Catana and Project & Communic

7. DAY: Evaluation, Follow-up

Unfortunaltely this is the last day of the project, the last day in Bartošovice. We started the day with a small group session about European voluntary service,training courses and youth exchanged .Each participant had the opportunity to write down on a sheet of paper ideas about a future project that he/she would like to coordinate and participate.Then we continued the day with one last sessions about Follow up and dissemination .. We tried various methods of spreading the result of the projects – we spilt in groups about video recording, brochure and press release translated in several languages. After this we all completed the evaluation of the project and we have the chance to speak into circle what we like to bring home and to make some suggestions to the future projects. We ended the day with youthpass certificates awarding. It's a pitty that the time was so short and it was a really pleasure to meet and colaborate with all of you and we will really miss you

Volunteer Boost

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