Description
The project "The Initiative Shelf" aims to develop sustainable mechanisms to support volunteerism, that can offer qualitative opportunities for involvement for all-age citizens, for the benefit of the communities. We aim to: increase the number of volunteers and volunteering programs in Romanian libraries; increase the quality of the volunteer management and the quality of the volunteering programs in Romanian libraries; increase the level of innovation and appeal of the volunteering opportunities offered by Romanian libraries; increase the capacity of Pro Vobis team to develop tailored services for NGOs and institutions in Romania, in order to create sustainable community mechanisms in the field of volunteering.
Summary of project results
The project „The Initiative Shelf - Developing volunteering programmes in public libraries” emerged from the need to professionalize volunteer management processes in public libraries in Romania, due to the changes in the role of public libraries in their communities. The library switches from being a deserted place where people can lend books to becoming an active community centre, an open and dynamic space where people of all ages from the community are welcomed to get involved in a variety of activities for personal, social, and professional development. In this context, the project offered a complex services package, tailored to the needs of libraries and based on building the institutional commitment of the leadership of public libraries. 16 public libraries were directly involved in activities aimed to increase their capacity and motivation to work with volunteers. Training courses for librarians were organised on the following topics: volunteers’ management, volunteering programmes management, non-formal education methods and creativity. The 16 libraries received consultancy in order to implement volunteering programmes and to internalise the volunteers’ management component in their organisational structure. Therefore, 16 volunteering programmes were developed and 711 volunteers were involved by performing 17,213 hours of volunteering. Over 31,000 citizens benefitted of the project activities, 3,300 librarians were informed about project's activities and 239 public libraries received the resources kit developed within the project, based on which they can develop volunteer programmes. The local media covered over 500 times the events and actions related to the project. These quantitative results are doubled by the enthusiasm, passion and thankfulness of the librarians and volunteers involved in the project, who are now more confident in their abilities to develop meaningful volunteer programmes in the libraries, having the full support of the leadership of their institution and the support and involvement of the community.
Summary of bilateral results