Description
The culture of volunteering in Romania is underdeveloped because of the under-appreciation by the general public and because NGOs themselves rarely develop methods and instruments for volunteer engagement. We organize summer-camps for children with chronic diseases with the assistance of numerous volunteers. Thus, we recognized through our own experiences the need for developing a sustainable model of volunteer-management: a transfer of know-how from the international Partner will facilitate the adoption, development and testing of methods and instrument within the own organisation. After implementing the recruitment, selection and training activities, 100 volunteers will assist children with chronic diseases. Afterwards, they will be involved in the organisations' other activities via a networking meeting of 75 volunteers, fundraising training for 20 volunteers, as well as volunteer-coordinator training for 6 truly committed volunteers who will lead the next generation of volunteers.
Summary of project results
The mission of the Promoter consists in organizing free of charge summer camps, based on the methodology of therapeutic recreation, for children with serious and chronic diseases like diabetes, juvenile arthritis and cancer. These are complex camps where children take part in any kind of activities, as their healthy friends. However, this means a high investment in human resources: medical assistance, counselling, care giving and implementing outdoor and indoor activities. The solution that the Promoter found is to work together with numerous motivated, dedicated and well trained volunteers. Thus, during this project, they proposed to develop a sustainable model for volunteers’ management, aimed at offering assistance to children with chronic diseases. The model was developed and implemented with the help of their international Partner (Bátor Tábor Foundation), from which the model was adopted. The process of organisational development lasted for 12 months, that means both transfer of know-how from the Partner related to best-practice methods and instruments of volunteers management (assistance via telephone and e-mail, field visit, sharing of materials and instruments) and the adoption, development and testing of these methods and instruments within the organisation. After the recruiting period, selection (100 personal interviews done in 4 cities) and training activities (2 sessions of 2 days each), 100 volunteers assisted 122 children with chronic diseases in the 3 summer camps of 2015. The further involvement of volunteers within the organisation was facilitated through a networking meeting, with the participation of 75 volunteers. A large number of them further benefited of trainings in areas like leadership and fundraising. 6 volunteers were trained to become volunteers’ coordinators so that they will be able to take over the responsibilities of Promoter’s staff members in the 2016 camps. The cooperation with 12 mass-media representatives and 12 other NGOs active in volunteers’ management in the form of round table events and workshops increased the visibility and appreciation of volunteers' work. In the last part of the project, a fundraising strategy was created and some fundraising instruments already started to be used. The most important effect of the project is the consolidation of the organisational capacities in the field of recruiting, maintaining and promoting volunteers.
Summary of bilateral results