"Re-Inclusion is important" is project which will be realized under the ERASMUS+ Program. The project fulfils needs of young people who are returning from their long-term and short-term volunteership projects within the ESC and responds to the needs of their supporting organisations so that they can better do their role. When get home, volunteers have different needs and even problems sometimes. During the project they go through change: they live in a new society, their personality changes. In fact, volunteer comes home with "new integrity": this means that they often have new personal values. However, they return to the family and surroundings from which they come. Often upon return, this value differs from the values of the environment and not always participants are able to tell what exactly have been changed after ESC volunteering. Sometimes they lack the courage to start change and implement dreamed projects or they lack local support. Such situations cause that some participants do not continue work on themselves and return to the same level before volunteership. Lack of understanding and support also make them even more excluded from local social and public life. We came to such conclusions after research through Polish organizations, with whom we collaborate and after few Zoom-meetings with former short-term and long-term volunteers of one of the project partner organization.. Organizations confirm that not always the existing template fits to the particular volunteer needs and it is not easy to define such volunteer's needs after return. As a result personal development of those people pauses to continue. Often supporting organizations do not track the development of sent volunteers or they use standard methods in conversations "upon return" with each of them, thus lose volunteers individuality and unique needs. The difficulty in fulfilling the function of supporting organisations responds to a number of factors: the volunteer role in the project, the degree of partnership in the project, the residence of the volunteer upon return, nature of the relationship with him/her, etc. Above all, however, there is a lack of interesting tools for needs diagnosing of volunteers upon returning (after a series of evaluations, the use of the same methods is tedious for them). Based on those tools we can support volunteers when returned in a tailored and appropriate way with a proportionate commitment. Supporting organisation spends time with volunteer and often it is too short (both "before" and "after"); relationships are different and there are needs in methods to overcome these difficulties. These are the aims of our project: 1) Knowledge deepening of volunteers needs, problems and challenges after they return home/return from their projects. 2) Adapting of existing and creation of new tools for Youth workers to help them identify volunteership needs upon return and support other volunteers. 3) Adopting process improvement and reintegration into society of former/returning volunteers. 4) Awareness raising of the partner organisation role to increase quality of ESC projects. After the project is over we expect next results: 1) Prepared manual in English contains tools for evaluating and helping volunteers after returning home, which will help youth workers to understand better volunteerships, assist and support the needs of volunteers in the process of adaptation and clarify the importance of personal development continuity. 2) A website that will help volunteers to facilitate the process of adaption and reintegration into society and to understand the place of personal development process by creating a new e-learning tool. 3) Cooperation between youth and non-formal education organisations and institutions. 4) Youth workers knowledge increasing for young people needs (former ESC projects participants). 5) Knowledge increase of youth workers participating in staff training program of the adaptation support tools which support participants of the ESC projects. 6) Easier adaptation for ESC project participants when they return home. 7) ESC projects quality improvement. We'll be able to achieve the results through the project's activities. It will be the blended mobility of young people and a Short-term joint staff training event on volunteer's support after returning from ESC projects. We will also prepare a guide contains tools for evaluating and helping volunteers upon their return and will create a new e-learning tool for volunteers returned from ESC projects.
The project had the following objectives: 1. Deepening knowledge about the needs, problems, and challenges of volunteers returning from their projects, 2. Adapting existing tools and creating new additional tools for youth workers to help them identify the needs of returning volunteers and support them. 3. Facilitating the process of adaptation and reintegration into society for returning volunteers. 4. Increasing awareness of the role of partner organizations in improving the quality of ESC projects.
Our analysis showed that volunteers of ESC projects have different needs and sometimes problems upon returning home. During the project, they undergo changes, live in a new society, and their personality changes. In fact, the volunteer returns home with a "new integrity," meaning that they often have new values. However, they return to their family and environment where they came from. Often, these values differ from the values of their environment, and participants do not always know how to talk about the changes they experienced during their ESC volunteering. Sometimes, they lack the courage to initiate changes and implement projects they dreamed of during their volunteering, and they lack support. This causes some participants to not continue working on themselves and return to the same level as before. The lack of understanding and support also leads to further exclusion. Therefore, the project addressed the need of volunteers to "close" their experience upon project completion, reflect on what happened, and how the volunteer has changed.