The objective of the project “Creation of a system of development of volunteers coming from disadvantaged socio-economic background, specifically from Roma communities” is to create an innovative, and as of this moment missing approach to creation of programs for volunteers coming from disadvantaged socio-economic background (DSEB). Inspired by and in accordance with the Paris Declaration we want to use this project to participate in the dismantling of stereotypes concerning Roma and to provide support for their active citizenship. This project is aimed at finding effective factors in education and development of people coming from DSEB, finding practical application of these factors and creation and verification of innovative methodologies based on acquired findings. In this way, that is to say, by providing support and tailor-made personal development, it is possible to draw these people out of the patterns of generational poverty and to change their attitude from passive waiting for help into an effort to become an active member of the civic society. Execution of the project will facilitate a creation of education aimed at meeting special needs of volunteers from DSEB. A methodology named “A guide to working with Roma volunteers” will be created as well as material “Exercise book for volunteers”. This will not only be an assistance to organizations working with clients coming from DSEB in helping them become more active citizens, but will also help to bring up a change in the perception the society has of the community coming from DSEB, which is still perceived by the society as being passive and without any contribution to society. To achieve this objective we will form a cooperation between two organizations specialized on creating these kinds of trainings (YMCA Praha, Centrum dobrovoľníctva) and YMCA Revúca, an organization with rich experiences in work with volunteers coming from disadvantaged socio-economic, more specifically Roma background. The work of this organization is unique in that Roma volunteers are not only passive recipients of its help, but they actively participate in leading miscellaneous activities conducted by this organization. The actual materialization of the collaboration will consist of 5 volunteers from YMCA Revúca and 5 volunteers from YMCA Praha, all from disadvantaged socio-economic background, undergoing four different trainings. A varied degree of innovation will be used in the preparation and execution of these trainings. We will use forms of informal education at the training. Values and data for the methodologies will be collected by observation and analysis of feedback from volunteers, experts, and participants of the Conclusive conference. A mentor will be the tool for collecting data from the volunteers, using quantitative and qualitative methods. After the last training, the group of experts will systematize their findings and use them to prepare materials called “A guide to working with Roma volunteers” and “Exercise book for volunteers”. These materials will be presented to professionals from the field in the form of interactive lectures together with other findings of the project at the Conclusive conference. The objective of this conference is not only to offer these materials to its participants and encourage their use of them, but also to present convincingly the need of eliminating barriers standing in the way of personal growth of young people from disadvantaged socio-economic background and motivate the participants to dedicate their time and energy to this cause in their area of influence. Over the course of this conference we will also use the example of our collaboration to demonstrate the need and benefits of such a cooperation and we will initiate creation of similar partnerships, that could deepen the results and impacts of our project years after it has ended. In order to spread the results of the project we will create the methodologies in three languages (Slovak, Czech and English). By doing this, we want to attain the easiest possible propagation not only in Slovakia and Czech Republic but also in European context. The other means we will use to achieve this goal is by focusing on organizations working on national and international level (YMCA v Českej Republike, YMCA na Slovensku, Platforma dobrovoľníckych centier, Rada Mládeže Slovenska, YMCA Europe).
The main objective of the project was to find a way to ensure quality development and training of volunteers from disadvantaged backgrounds. To create a programme that would help volunteers to gain support in the field of personal development, to develop competences related to working with children and young people, to experience a sense of achievement, to find their strengths and to learn how to work with them. The implemented activities were gradually modified to take into account the needs and specificities of the volunteers. All the procedures, the course of activities, the feedback received were consulted together with the partner organisations, which also formed the expert team. The experience, knowledge and recommendations we have gained during the project can be passed on to other organisations working with volunteers.
The aim of the project was to create a missing training and development programme for volunteers from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. YMCA Revúca and YMCA Prague are one of the few organisations in their countries that are dedicated to long-term volunteering for volunteers from socially disadvantaged backgrounds or generational poverty. In Slovakia and the Czech Republic, there are several programmes aimed at training and developing volunteers. However, these programmes do not address the specificities of volunteers from socially disadvantaged backgrounds, they are aimed at volunteers from the majority society. The task of the project, together with the Volunteer Centre, was to find a way of development and training of volunteers that would take into account the specificities of the target group. The information, documents and experiences gathered were summarised in the document Guide to working with volunteers from specific backgrounds. A workbook "Open Me" was created as a support, development material for volunteers. Experiences and lessons learnt during the training of volunteers are summarised in the 'Evaluation of the benefits of typical training for volunteers from socially disadvantaged backgrounds'.