Develop structures and procedures related to volunteering for NGOs across Greece

Description

The project aims at tackling the lack of a volunteering mentality in Greece, lack of volunteers among employers in the corporate and private sector and also students, unemployed and pensioners, lack of an organized online NGO search tool and the lack of a concrete and continuous educational process for NGOs and volunteers. The project involves the development of structures and processes related to volunteering through the provision of a structured online platform, an organized website with ads from all NGOs and search for voluntary actions. Our target groups are all NGOs and all existing and potential volunteers in Greece. Secondly, there is a provision of training through the creation of training material for NGOs. Also, volunteers and staff of NGOs will be targeted. The third target involves the expansion of target groups involved in volunteering through the creation of voluntary training programs for companies e.g. employees in companies of the private sector in Greece. The last target aims at creating networks of NGOs, exchange of expertise and experience of best practices between NGOs in Greece and abroad.

Summary of project results

The design of the project was based on the HumanGrid (2012) survey results which show that 52% of the Greek people do not trust voluntary organizations, while 40% of them consider that these organizations serve “other purposes”. Furthermore, it is apparent that 63% of the Greek people have never taken part in voluntary actions. Taking the above into consideration, the project consisted of actions aiming at the enhancement of volunteerism in general and at the promotion of NGOs’ work by creating synergies among them and the active parts of society: volunteers – private companies. All project’s actions supported NGOs’ presentation and empowerment as well as their relationships with volunteers and companies; this was made feasible through the e-platform developed for the finding of the appropriate volunteers, with the organization of seminars for the people working at NGOs and via the organization of corporate volunteering projects. During the period September 2015-April 2016 took place:a)Uploading of 712 volunteer jobs for which 1,780 volunteers were assigned (average volunteers/organization: 2.5), b) -Organisation of 6 seminars, each of 8-hour duration, in Athens and Thessaloniki with 194 employees – representatives of Greek NGOs, c) Organisation of an international conference titled «Volunteer Engagement», with speakers NGO representatives from all over the world, as well as 102 representatives of NGOs in Greece. The conference’s objectives were the exchange of applied volunteering programs’ know – how, best practice examples as well as the presentation of the currents status of volunteerism worldwide, d) Organisation of 5 corporate volunteer programs with the participation of 63 workers by companies in cooperation with 5 NGOs, e) The publication of the e-book entitled "Volunteers management, a journey in 13 steps" authored by Mr Ger.Kouvara, Director of Action Aid Hellas (available free at https://blog.volunteer4greece.gr/). The project has surpassed its ambitions in the case of the educational actions, a fact that confirms NGOs’ need for further seminars concerning topics of their interest. In parallel, the numeric results of the employees of private companies who participated in their company’s volunteering program are encouraging, although less that the initial target, presenting the essential need for the investment of time and effort in order to alter companies’ attitude and include volunteerism in their corporate culture.

Summary of bilateral results