THE PROJECT
Background
The importance of youth volunteering for social inclusion and active citizenship is evidenced in the EU (Volunteering in the European Union, GHK 2010). Furthermore, by participating in voluntary activities, young people acquire new knowledge, skills and competences, that support their personal development and employability. Thus conclude studies such as ‘Voluntary Action in 2018’ (PVE) and ‘Intergenerational volunteering and solidarity’ (Eurobarometer 2011), among others.
The EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027 encourages Member States to promote the participation of young people in voluntary activities and highlights the importance of promoting good practices. Most European, national and regional programmes to support youth volunteering include, as an objective, the promotion of good practices but they do not define what is a ‘good practice’ or establish objective criteria for their identification.
Youth volunteering remains one of the few sectors without European Quality Standards. The definition of such Standards would facilitate the identification, promotion and development of good practices in all relevant areas of young volunteering and would therefore significantly contribute to the objectives of the EU Youth Strategy 2019-2027.
Objectives
In this context, in order to respond to this European need, this project aimed to define and disseminate across the Erasmus+ countries the first European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering.
Activities
The first project activity was to carry out a consultation in all Erasmus+ countries in order to identify the most used quality standards in the youth voluntary sector in each country. Based on the consultation results, the first version of the European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering was created. Subsequently, in order to assess how the first version of the standards was understood and accepted within the European youth voluntary sector, the project partners carried out a transnational testing. Based on the feedback from the testers, the project partners improved the first version of the standards. The final improved version of the European Quality Standards in Youth Volunteering is available on this website in seven languages.
THE PROJECT PARTNERS
PVE is a non governmental organisation that coordinates the promotion and diffusion of volunteering and solidarity action at the state level. PVE participates in the development of volunteer policies and programs; and defends the interests and independence of the NGOs that integrate it.
CEV is the European network devoted to promoting and supporting volunteering through advocacy, knowledge exchange and capacity building. CEV's vision is a Europe in which volunteering is a core element in the process of building a cohesive society based on solidarity and active citizenship.
Volunteer Ireland is the national volunteer development organisation, the voice of volunteering and the national support organisation for volunteer centres and volunteer information services in Ireland. It makes the best of volunteering, improves the quality of volunteering activities, and shapes the volunteering of the future, in service and support of a highly functional society.
CSVnet is the Association of Volunteer Support Centres (CSV). They promote solidarity and social inclusion and provide voluntary organisations with advice, services, training, information and incentives for networking with other third sector organisations and local authorities.
Frise is a federation of volunteer centres dedicated to civil society development and volunteering. Frise's vision is a strong and diverse civil society, where everyone has the opportunity to volunteer and also get help and support by means of capacity building and consultancy, partnerships and networks with key stakeholders in all sectors, and lobbying and advocacy.
DKolektiv, formerly known as Volunteer Center Osijek, is an organisation that aims the development of volunteering, the civil society and the democratic culture. DKolektiv is based on the principles of solidarity of humanity, respect for diversity, non-violence, tolerance, understanding, responsibility and cooperation.
Bulgarian representation of Big Brothers Big Sisters International. For over a century, it has operated under the belief that inherent in every child is the ability to succeed and thrive in life by making and monitoring meaningful relationships with long-lasting effects between 'Bigs', adult volunteers and 'Littles', children from 6 to 18 years-old.
We are experts on Quality Management in European projects. Our team has more than 15 years of experience on planning and controlling quality in European projects. We believe that establishing quality as a priority at every step of the process is the most effective way of assuring high quality outcomes as confirmed by our track record.