Following the completion of the draft programme, which includes relevant theoretical background, plans and other activities to be implemented within the programme, a training event took place in Kaunas, Lithuania gathering participants from the Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium, Portugal, Slovenia and Lithuania. During the 5-day training, the participants, selected based on their Professional Background and interests to match the goals of the project, were trained with the use of the EVI-DEMS curriculum. The Modules were designed to best transfer knowledge and know-how to the participants and included sessions on Who is a volunteer, Volunteer resources, Diversity of voluntary organisations in theory and practice, The value of volunteering and The ethics of volunteer management. Furthermore, the sessions involved topics such as Motivations to volunteer, Quality volunteering with inclusion dimension, Legitimacy of volunteering/ legal environment, The volunteer managers profession(al), Volunteering across the life span, Recruiting, training and retaining volunteers, Volunteering infrastructure and ecosystem, and The reflective volunteer manager. Based on the outcomes, reviews and recommendations of the participants the programme will be edited and finalized in the following month.
EVI-DEMS aims to gain a greater understanding of the current situation regarding the training and qualifications currently available to existing and potential volunteer managers. With this increased understanding the partners will develop an HE learning programme and associated resources that will increase the opportunities for the partners and other stakeholders to enhance the opportunities across Europe for existing and future volunteer managers to be properly trained at the HE level and receive a recognised qualification based on common European standards for volunteer management training. This will serve to ensure that volunteers across Europe are managed effectively and more ethically, avoiding exploitation, instrumentalisation and job substitution. It will also increase the capacity of communities in general as concerns disaster prevention, preparedness and recovery through having better trained and qualified volunteer managers and increase the diversity and inclusivity in the volunteering sector with better trained and qualified volunteer managers able to assess the inclusiveness of the organisations where they are active and develop, manage and follow up on proactive plans and strategies to mitigate risks of lack of inclusivity.
The project is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.