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 & Communication coordinator Sorin Berbecar. The program was built by using a combination of different methods such as: ice-breakers; energizers; experimental learning; group-work; fairs; team-building exercises; role-plays; brainstorming; case studies; presentations; games; introspection; debates.

The participants are enjoying this experience, thanks to which they gained knowledge, partners for their future projects and personal growth.

The project was funded by the programme of Erasmus+ (KA1: mobility of youth workers)

Cosmin Catana, trainer of the project, representing the NGO Curba de Cultura

Sorin Berbecar, trainer of the project, representing the NGO Curba de Cultura

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6. DAY: Motivate, recognize, monitore, evaluate the volunteers!

Day 6 started with an administrative announcement about lunch. Afterwards we went outside to take a group photo in a sunny place. Everyone will have really small eyes J we did an energizer with Sona who made us move a lot, we really woke up a little bit. We were energized enough for the next task: we split in order to prioritize the reasons why people are volunteering. After gathering back in the big room and talking about it, we had the MCCLELLAND’S test for finding out what our motivation is. Marty energized us with the house song and I think everyone woke up after those really loud screams. After this, Sorin got the floor talking about the recognition of the volunteers and grouping us to find out our ideas of recognition. Sorin’s beautiful assistant Cosmin is now having the floor showing us videos with EVS volunteers. The other beautiful assistant, Sorin, is now back on the stage explaining us how the monitoring is working. And now Romania is having the floor because of this coo...

Evaluation meeting in Brno

Maybe you remember, that in November we spent some time at the castle in Bartošovice. During the Volunteer Boost training course, we dealt with the topic of volunteer management and coordination. Since that time, two months passed, so we met again in the middle of December with 12 of our lovely participants and trainers to evaluate our progress in given field, this time in Brno. The evaluation meeting lasted two days, during which we found out the impact of the training on our daily work within our organizations while using various non-formal methods of learning. Nevertheless, it was no the only task we had. As we created very well working team, it would be a pity to not continue in this cooperation. That is why we spent one whole afternoon by follow-up planning of future projects. Moreover, you can expect the booklet full of advice and tricks on how to effectively work with volunteers, which is coming very soon, also via our Facebook page. The official program took place in our s...

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)

Volunteer Boost

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