Online training for youth volunteering coordinators on the validation of competencies, skills and qualifications

The main needs addressed by the project can be summarised as follows: Youth volunteer: • Greater recognition of volunteering and the skills it develops in young volunteers. • Better working conditions for young volunteers and opportunities for enriching work experiences. • Promoting intergenerational solidarity and encouraging transnational volunteering experiences. • Non-formal learning environment, emphasising an open-ended process that focuses on young people's needs, cultures and interests. Youth volunteer coordinators: • Skills development by improving and strengthening the competences, skills and qualifications of youth volunteer coordinators through online training and mobile assessment. • Quality and recognition of youth volunteering within organisations, emphasising a volunteer-based/volunteer-centred approach to quality, recognition and skills development. • Personal development and social capital as youth volunteering promotes personal development, builds self-esteem and contributes to the well-being of the community. In summary, the identified needs revolve around the recognition, support and enhancement of youth volunteering and the development of competent and effective youth volunteer coordinators.

The main objective of the project was to enhance and strengthen the competencies, skills, and qualifications of young volunteer coordinators through the implementation of online training and mobile assessment tools. The specific objectives below have collectively contributed to the overarching goal of enhancing the skills of young volunteer coordinators and promoting a culture of recognition within the volunteering ecosystem: - Recognise the efforts of volunteers and standardise the results of recognition tools to support volunteers' personal and professional development. - Collect and share effective recognition tools to ensure a collaborative and informed approach to volunteer management. - Raise awareness of the significant contribution that employees who volunteer can make. - Adapt recognition methods to the needs of volunteers. - Integrate recognition into volunteer management systems to ensure sustained motivation and commitment among volunteers. The aim of the project was to create a comprehensive and standardised approach to recognising the valuable contribution of volunteers, thus fostering an environment conducive to meaningful and impactful youth volunteering experiences.

Project partners have implemented the following activities: o PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION • Preparation and signature of BILATERAL AGREEMENTS between the coordinator and the project partners, including IPR provisions. • Developing, implementing, and monitoring the PROJECT COMMUNICATION STRATEGY to ensure effective interaction within and outside the Train4Coordinators partnership throughout the life of the project. Communication activities and tools have contributed to: - Increase the productivity of team meetings, - Ensure that the project was on target - Enable partners to engage with their stakeholders - Demonstrate the impact of the Train4Coordinators project and its results - Broaden our network for future collaborations - Support the dissemination of the project results - Raise citizens' awareness of EU programmes • Preparation of the project's ACTION PLAN and GANTT CHART and updating them after each TPM. • Organisation of 11 online COORDINATION MEETINGS (in addition to the four TPMs) to ensure smooth and successful project management and coordination: 16/05/22¸ 20/06/22, 04/11/22, 13/12/22, 09/01/23, 28/02/23, 29/05/23, 19/06/23, 17/07/23, 15/09/23 and 12/10/23. • Development, implementation and monitoring of the QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ASSESSMENT PLAN (QAP). The plan was designed to establish a systematic monitoring system for the implementation of project outputs and the achievement of project results in relation to the original planning, planned outputs and expected results. • Development, implementation, and monitoring of the QUALITY ASSURANCE AND ASSESSMENT PLAN (QAP). The Plan was designed to produce systemic monitoring for the implementation of the project outcomes and achievement of project results in relation to the initial planning, planned outcomes and the expected results. The QAP also served as a monitoring tool for the project implementation processes. Specifically, the Plan provided the guidelines for monitoring the following: - Cooperation within the partnership - Internal communication - Working methodology - Data collection Finally, the T4C QAP helped the partners to measure and evaluate the impact of the project and the replicability and sustainability of the project results. SYNTHESIS was the partner responsible for the preparation of the plan and the following reports with input and contributions from the partners: PMI, Project Results and TPMs. • Preparation of the project EXPLOITATION PLAN with the following objectives: • Maintenance of the activities and project results after the end of EU funding. • Sustainability of the project results beyond the project duration. • Preparation of the DISSEMINATION STRATEGY to contribute to the following objectives: - To promote and raise awareness about the project's contents and developments. - To provide information on the quality, relevance, and effectiveness of the results. - To successfully transfer the results to appropriate policymakers in order to achieve their sustainable promotion and support. - To convince individual end-users to adopt and/or apply the results, also the project and support by the project partnership has ended. • Production of four dissemination reports every six months (three half-yearly reports and a final report). • Preparation of project TEMPLATES in PowerPoint and Word. • Design and production of DISSEMINATION MATERIAL (leaflets and flyers, roll-ups and posters) in all partner languages. • Preparation of E-BROCHURES to disseminate the Volunteering Benchmark and the Volunteer Training Management Toolkit for volunteer coordinators. • Designing the project LOGO and project WEBSITE (and regularly updating the content). • Organisation of INFORMATION DAYS and THEME WORKSHOPS to present the project activities. • Submission of six-monthly financial and activity monitoring REPORTS using common templates prepared by the project coordination. • SOCIAL MEDIA dissemination (Instagram and Facebook project handles) at project level and also by partners using their own social media handles. • Creation of seven ADVISORY BOARDS (AB) and organisation of two meetings per partner to receive feedback on the project results in terms of their quality, usefulness, potential and innovative aspects and other positive comments. And also to identify areas for improvement in order to make the tools more user-friendly, attractive, useful and to get the most out of them. • The members of the AB were youth workers, youth volunteering coordinators and experts from youth NGOs, training institutes, youth centres, universities and community-based organisations. o TRANSNATIONAL PROJECT MEETINGS Organisation of four TPMs (two online and two in-person meetings) - The Kick-off meeting was organised online on 05/01/22 - The 2nd TPM (Progress check meeting) was also a virtual meeting that took place on 26/09/22. - The 3rd TPM was the first in-person meeting and was organised in Maribor (Slovenia) by TREND-PRIMA on the 21/04/23. - The IV TPM was the last one and took place in Seville (Spain) on the 23/11/23. o PROJECT RESULTS Result 1: Volunteering Benchmark. Main activities carried out: Consolidation of survey results on individual needs, training needs and gaps in skills recognition. Identify good examples of youth volunteering practices across Europe. Result 2: Volunteer training management toolkit & online learning platform for volunteer coordinators. Main activities carried out: Preparation of a comprehensive toolkit with 8 chapters focusing on different aspects of volunteer coordination and management and development of an online learning platform with features such as user registration, curriculum, chapter-based learning, enrolment, quizzes, and automatic online certification. Pilot action: more than 300 people have registered for the e-learning to follow the course in one of the six languages available (English, Spanish, German, Turkish, Slovenian, and Greek). Result 4: Self-assessment mobile application. Main activities carried out: Development of a mobile application for self-planning, self-learning, and self-assessment of voluntary civil service. The self-assessment tool allows youth workers, young volunteers, youth coordinators and organisations to evaluate their skills, knowledge, readiness, and attitude towards the implementation of self-planning, self-learning and self-assessment of the voluntary civil services and to understand their developed competencies in this field. Pilot action participants: more than 350 people had used the self-assessment tool by the end of the project. o MULTIPLIER EVENTS - Organisation of five multiplier events called "Youth Volunteering Management Seminar" by SYNTHESIS, BIV, VAEV, TREND-PRIMA and PROMEA with 147 local participants: o Cyprus (30/09/23) o Turkey (12/10/23) o Austria (06/11/23) o Slovenia (16/11/23) o Greece 21/11/23) - Closing multiplier event "Recognition of Youth Volunteering Management Conference" organised by Fundación Altum in Seville on 23/11/23. Participants: 115 local + 11 foreign + 76 online

The results of the project include a number of objectives and outcomes developed in accordance with the principles of non-formal education and training. The project has contributed to: - A deeper understanding of the current situation and individual needs of youth workers and young volunteers to better address their specific needs. - Identification of training needs and skills gaps in terms of recognition and assessment to design effective training programmes and skills assessment tools. - To increase the knowledge of successful examples of youth volunteering across Europe, including methodologies, pedagogical approaches and results achieved, to improve the overall understanding of effective youth volunteering practices. - To provide coordinators with comprehensive training through an 8-chapter Volunteer Management Toolkit to ensure effective programme management and leadership. - Raise awareness of volunteering and volunteer management to encourage participation and support for volunteering initiatives. - Supporting youth workers and volunteer coordinators to acquire diverse, transversal, and key competences to enhance their skills. - Encourage self-planning, self-learning, and self-evaluation of voluntary civic service by young people in order to empower them and promote their autonomy and personal development. - Better understanding of the competences developed through a mobile application that facilitates real-time monitoring and understanding of individual and collective competences. - Implement an interactive facilitation for the monitoring of competences, ensuring a continuous commitment and an effective follow-up of the competences acquired during the volunteering period. - Promote at European level a management system for youth volunteering that recognises the validation of competences, skills, and qualifications. The project was organised around three main outputs, each with a specific focus: Result 1: Volunteering Benchmark. Main activities carried out: Consolidation of survey results on individual needs, training needs and gaps in skills recognition. Identify good examples of youth volunteering practices across Europe. Result 2: Volunteer training management toolkit & online learning platform for volunteer coordinators. Main activities carried out: Preparation of a comprehensive toolkit with 8 chapters focusing on different aspects of volunteer coordination and management and development of an online learning platform with features such as user registration, curriculum, chapter-based learning, enrolment, quizzes, and automatic online certification. The Volunteer Training Management Toolkit is a set of resources designed to assist organisations in effectively training and managing their volunteers. It includes a range of materials and resources such as templates, guides, checklists, and instructional materials that can be customised to suit the unique needs of any organisation working with volunteers. The volunteer training management toolkit is a comprehensive approach to training volunteer coordinators on how to develop a volunteer programme successfully across the organisation and interfaces with all stakeholders. The toolkit covers the following areas: Chapter 1. Youth volunteering programme management Chapter 2. Leadership management Chapter 3. Effective communications Chapter 4. Public relations, social media and campaigns Chapter 5. Volunteering project management Chapter 6. Volunteer management software Chapter 7. Developing corporate partners Chapter 8. Volunteering programme evaluation Through the e-learning platform, coordinators can access these materials to enhance their skills, while organisations can benefit from improved volunteer programme management, resulting in more engaged volunteers and a greater positive impact on the community. Pilot action: more than 300 people has registered to the e-learning to follow the course in one of the six languages available (English, Spanish, German, Turkish, Slovenian, and Greek). Result 4: Self-assessment mobile application. Main activities carried out: Development of a mobile application for self-planning, self-learning, and self-assessment of voluntary civil service. The self-assessment tool allows youth workers, young volunteers, youth coordinators and organisations to evaluate their skills, knowledge, readiness, and attitude towards the implementation of self-planning, self-learning and self-assessment of the voluntary civil services and to understand their developed competencies in this field. This simple application is aimed at educational and/or career development purposes, such as helping users identify their strengths and weaknesses in the field of voluntary civil service and providing guidance for improvement in their professional skill set. The Train4Coordinators self-assessment tool is available in English, Spanish, German, Turkish, Slovenian, and Greek. The application is accessible via desktop through the project’s website. By scanning the QR code on the website, users also have access to the application through their Android and IOS devices. The self-assessment tool is divided into the following units: - Sort of services - Organizational programs - Gained knowledge and expertise - Impacts of the volunteering program - Comparison of volunteering results - Intended and unintended impacts - Volunteer management practices - Levels of support - Needs for permissions - Personal development in volunteering For each unit, there are 5 tips and 5 Yes/No questions. At the end of each unit, one receives personalised feedback, recommendations and a badge based on the answers. Pilot action participants: more than 350 people had used the self-assessment tool by the end of the project. Through these comprehensive initiatives, the project has improved the skills of youth workers, young volunteers and volunteer coordinators, fostered a culture of recognition and contributed to the overall success of youth volunteering initiatives.