The objective of the Future Skills for the Third Sector (FUTUR3) project is to help third-sector employers (associations, NGOs, foundations etc.), employees and educational organisations that train professionals in the field to identify future skills needs in the sector and to prepare for them.This project focuses on organisations with volunteering activities, and the main target group is professionals working with volunteers: volunteer managers, coordinators and so on. Throughout Europe, third-sector employees’ educational and employment backgrounds are diverse. Employees performing similar tasks with volunteers have a wide educational background ranging from vocational qualifications to research degrees, and differences between EU Member States are vast, as the third sector is more structured in some countries than others. Occupational standards for professionals working with volunteers have been developed in some countries (e.g. the UK), but in most countries they do not exist. The growing importance of the third sector as an employer has been emphasisedf throughout Europe due to, for instance, a reorganisation of welfare services, which places growing pressures on the sector to provide effective professional services and for its HR capacities. This also means the greater involvement of volunteers. These factors make knowledge management in the sector challenging as the need for growing professionalisation has not in all cases been met by professional development opportunities or codified standards that display the level of professionalism required of personnel. Third-sector employees in some countries have identified e.g. ICTs and social media, cooperation with a range of partners and dealing with uncertainty in e.g. funding and volunteering as the most pressing future skills needs. Universities, VET centres, and other educational institutions need information on future skills needs to prepare students for employment in the third sector. Both the personnel and volunteers of third-sector organisations make a significant contribution to inclusion, well-being and social cohesion in all European countries. Through its future-oriented outlook and by engaging a wide range stakeholders and experts, the FUTUR3 project shall address these needs. It aims to increase understanding of skills needs in the third sector on a European level and to discuss them from a future perspective. The project will discuss education-work life correspondence in this field of employment, combining the macro-level (the European thrid sector as an employer) with localised peer learning activities for meeting future needs in supervising volunteers. FUTUR3 aims to: -Increase knowledge about the educational paths, qualifications and careers of volunteer managers and similar third-sector professionals in Europe. -Increase understanding about future skills needs in the third sector to help stakeholders, especially educational institutions and third-sector organisations, to manage and respond to these needs -Increase the ability of European third-sector organisations to cooperate on volunteering issues. The working methods of FUTUR3 include: -Benchmarking process to collect and publish information about employment and work-education correspondence in 10 countries, incorporating discussions with third-sector and futures specialists in order to gain insight about the current situation and future needs of the sector. This will result in a downloadable report. -Peer learning model tested locally by e.g. volunteer managers. It includes activities that prepare third-sector employees to identify skills gaps and make joint plans for professional development that meets future needs. -General awareness-raising As a result, staff in third sector organisations will be better equipped to manage their duties and to support volunteers at the grassroots level; third sector organisations will have a better understanding of professional development needs and can improve their performance as employers; local education providers can also use the new information to review their curricula. There will also be increased cooperation between third sector organisations on the local level. In each country the project's outputs and results will help educational institutions and policymakers in the fields of education and labour to understand changing skills demands in a growing employment sector. The desired long-term impact is an increased ability within the third sector and VET and other educational institutions educating or training third-sector personnel to tackle growing demands of professionalisation. Enhanced management of staff competencies will help both organisations and their staff to reach their targets.
The Future Skills for the Third Sector (FUTUR3) project’s goal was to help third-sector employers (associations, NGOs, foundations etc.), employees and educational institutions training professionals in the field to understand and identify future skills needs in the field and to prepare for them. We focused particularly on volunteering professionals, such as volunteer managers. The project set off from an understanding that the growing importance of the third sector as an employer has been evident throughout Europe, and that societal developments have increased professionalisation. Third-sector employees’ educational and employment backgrounds are diverse and differences between EU Member States vast. Moreover, calls for professionalisation have not in all cases been met by professional development opportunities or codified standards that display the level of professionalism required of personnel. Through its future-oriented outlook and by engaging a wide range stakeholders, the FUTUR3 project worked to increase understanding on its issues both at a European level by organising a benchmarking process and the local and individual level by developing a peer learning model for volunteer managers. We also envisioned that this knowledge would help European third-sector organisations to cooperate on volunteering issues, and aimed to raise awareness. To achieve these goals, the project organised the following activities: - A scenario model to understand the future landscape of the sector. Under the model the future is shaped by digitalisation, growing inequalities, loose communities, the status quo, or their combination. -A benchmarking process to collect information about the educational and professional paths and future skills needs of volunteer managers in 10 countries. We published a two-part report with theoretical insights, a survey with almost 500 third-sector employees, expert interviews and best practice cases. On basis of the results, we made recommendations on digitalisation, managing people, migration, diversity and training collaboration for future success. -A peer learning model tested locally by over 100 volunteer managers. The model is based on design thinking and aimed to give third-sector professionals tools to address future skills needs. Published in 10 languages, the model used the benchmarking results, and was improved according to participant feedback. -For awareness-raising, we organised e.g. social media action days, webinars, and streamed our final seminar live. As a result, according to our evaluation we managed to help third sector organisations and educational institutions in creating better understanding of professional development needs for HR management and curricular reform, as the products received a high satisfaction rate. Participating employees felt that the peer learning model helped them engage with future issues, and there was evidence that it helped increase cooperation between organisations on the local level. In the long term, the information will help the sector understand country-specific similarities and differences, which will be beneficial for collaboration. Our awareness-raising activities resulted in invitation for presentations, also at parliamentary level. Stakeholders have seen the results as highly useful, and the partnership will continue to mainstream the results and develop them further in a follow-up project.