Description
The" Young Caritas - Create Future!" implemented by Association "Caritas- Social Assistance" is necessary because it contributes to promoting active citizenship among young people. The goal: to encourage the active participation of young people in community life and in solving social problems through volunteering, developing an appropriate institutional framework for these activities and using effective methods to involve young people. Direct beneficiaries: 355 young people aged 15-35, indirect beneficiaries: 700 children in difficulty, 150 health professionals, caregivers, teachers. Main achievements: the creation and equipment of 3 Young Caritas Point offices that offer support and resources for volunteering; involving 355 volunteers in social activities for children in difficulty and adequate preparation and training volunteers. The project provides organizational development activities, which are closely linked to our partnership with Caritas Norway. The results of these activities will be the development of skills and competences of 20 employees of the applicant in the field of volunteer management.
Summary of project results
Various studies conducted on national and regional level confirmed that young people nowadays face other kind of challenges - modern techniques and devices almost entirely take the place of community experiences and occupy their leisure time, whilst the involvement in community experiences and social programmes would be very important in their personal development. The project promoter considered that promoting volunteering among youth can generate a fashion in the positive sense of the word, leading to a culture of helping fellows and to a society of responsible adults. The project "Young Caritas – Create future!" aimed to encourage the active participation of young people in community life, thus solving social problems through volunteering, as well as to develop an appropriate institutional framework for these activities. The project was implemented in Targu Mures, Miercurea Ciuc and Sfantu Gheorghe between the 1st of April 2015 and 31st of March 2016. In order to achieve project's goals, 3 Young Caritas Points were created, which are modern spaces with a youthful design that can be used by volunteers to prepare for volunteer activities, as well as to organise leisure activities, clubs, meetings. In order to help youth acquire community volunteering experiences, as well as the experience of helping others, a total number of 327 young people were involved in social programmes like "Tales in paediatrics" for hospitalised children and "Let’s discover the world together” for children in need. The number of children benefiting of the two social programmes is 4,693. To encourage the active participation of young people in community life, different activities promoting volunteering were developed, such as workshops in schools, "Open Day" events, collaboration with education institutions. The project provided the opportunity to implement organisational development activities, which were closely linked to the partnership with Caritas Norway. As a result of this activity, skills and competences in the field of volunteer management of 19 employees were developed.
Summary of bilateral results
The project was implemented in partnership with Caritas Norway, from which a specialist in the field of volunteering, Sigrid Westeng Odden held a training course in volunteer management both for employees who already work with volunteers, as well as for those who want to get involved in working with volunteers. Main results of the training for the participants were: finding out examples of good practice in volunteer management from Norway and a new perspective on volunteering and volunteer management tools used in a country in which the culture of volunteering is very developed. Methods and techniques used by the trainer were interactive and new and participants can use these methods and techniques in both their daily work and in their work with volunteers. Sigrid Westeng Odden is also the coordinator of a center for refugees from Norway and shared also her experience in this field, since it is a relevant issue now in Europe. Overall, a good partnership was developed with the organisation from Norway.