VoW - Volunteering for a sustainable World! Increasing volunteering skills for global sustainability through experience in the Fair Trade sector

The project focused on how to prepare European citizens to address the relevant aspects of the global environmental crisis with greater knowledge and skills. It has addressed the vast sensitive area that is volunteering, improving its ability to be a co-protagonist of actions that contribute to spreading values, choices and behaviors, starting from the experience of European fair trade to combine environmental and social development with economic choices and ethical production. The project focused on people who already dedicate time and energy as volunteers, or who could do so: often senior Fair Trade volunteers who are highly motivated but poorly prepared and have less ability to dialogue with the new generations; young people driven by the desire to change the world as protagonists who often do not know these forms of volunteering; adult and elderly citizens motivated to volunteer who do not have information to approach this opportunity; voluntary organisations working in other areas. And also managers, trainers and volunteer managers, strengthening their skills in recruiting, welcoming, managing and above all training volunteers.

The VoW project aimed to support the paths of knowledge and commitment towards sustainable (and circular) economy and therefore responsible consumption practices, as fundamental tools to contribute to the fight against climate change and to a truly sustainable global development for all. Starting from personal choices and daily actions that everyone can put on the field. Within this framework, the VoW project aimed to: - To help citizens understand global change and implement virtuous behaviors by providing up-to-date and integrated knowledge of the fair trade system; - Improve the practical knowledge and content to be transmitted to operators, volunteers and citizens on the sustainable economy, networking the knowledge, experiences and practices of organisations operating in this field; - To enable more and more people to be protagonists, active for a sustainable future, strengthening the conditions for volunteering, in fair trade or other sensitive organisations; - Innovate the overall proposal for volunteers in fair trade, experimenting with new forms of volunteering, even involving more the new generations.

The project was developed through several Work Packages that were implemented with the contribution of all partners according to their skills and knowledge. Among the activities initially implemented, it is worth mentioning the research carried out by fair trade partners, a completely new activity for them, and the subsequent analysis activity that led to correctly framing the context and perimeter in which to move to continue the project. Another activity implemented was the creation of training modules, since this was also partly a new element, requiring the partners to work together on a theme that is often developed differently in different European countries, namely the management and training of volunteers. This activity of creating training content led to a further new activity, namely experimentation with volunteers and civil society. This path, in addition to being very engaging for all the partners and training for themselves, led to the achievement of the results and objectives defined by the project. Below is a more detailed description of the implemented activities. WP1 - A new framework of competences of sustainable economy volunteering. Mapping of actual volunteering activities and roles in Fair Trade organisations, exchange of good practice between fair trade partner organisations and other fair trade European organisations. RSM coordinated this WP delivering also a survey of a sample of volunteers active on their needs experiences and skills acquired. Fair trade partners developed it with their members and stakeholders collecting voluntary experiences and evidences on their territory. During this WP, the LTTA1 mobility in presence took place in Rotterdam in July 2022, which allowed for a broader discussion between partners and led to the development of a model of volunteer roles considering the expectations, skills needed and needs on the part of organizations with respect to the various roles (the unicorn dream shop). The Fair Trade partners contributed with the experiences of many years of volunteering activities by providing examples and suggestions that RSM was able to collect and organize very accurately in a first document (WP1. A new framework of competences of sustainable economy volunteering) which formed the basis for the launch of subsequent activities. WP2 - Recruiting & welcoming volunteers for a sustainable economy Continuing with what was observed and analyzed in WP1, the partners deepened the recruiting and welcoming methodologies of volunteers, comparing the different experiences and identifying best practices. At the end of the analysis conducted by Fundacio Oxfam Intermon, a document was built that integrated what RSM had already elaborated in WP1, to complete the analysis of the entire volunteer management process. With the conclusion of WP2 and the TPM3 meeting, PR1 'CODE of skills and recruitment models for sustainable economy volunteers' was defined and translated into the languages of the partners and made available on the project webpage. WP3 - Training the fair trade trainer Definition of the profile, training needs and role of the fair trade volunteer trainers. Organisation and preparation of new training courses for local trainers in the partnership, creation of online training module contents for local trainers. After an initial analysis phase, WP3 activities were launched during LTTA3 in presence in Brussels, during which the partners defined the titles and contents of the training modules and defined the responsibilities for each of them in terms of research and processing of the required materials. 3 training modules have been defined (Guide to the volunteeer's journey, Organizing Volunteers, Sustainable Economy) consisting of a total of 8 units. The courses were uploaded to the online platform made available by the partner CSVNet. WP4 - Testing and validating courses for volunteers on sustainable economy activities The training modules developed by the partners were made available to some volunteers selected by the partners themselves to test them online and to collect comments, evidence and suggestions, each unit was then accompanied by an evaluation questionnaire. During this WP, the LTTA4 mobility took place in presence in Madrid during which the partners were able to test some of the training units firsthand and assist in the training of some volunteers in the area. This activity made it possible to evaluate the training modules by collecting both the feedback received online and in person. The refinement of the modules then continued and at the same time the definition of the training guidelines, up to the creation of PR2 'Training guidelines for sustainable economy volunteers and their trainers'. WP5 - From fair trade to civil society and citizenship: volunteers ambassadors of sustainability paths. From the experience of volunteers in fair trade, preparation of materials to increase learning opportunities on sustainability actions, for other volunteer sectors and citizens. Deepen the methods and tools to make volunteers able to transfer their knowledge. Learning how to help voluntary organisations (in general) to include these issues in their training and activities. Information modules and tools editing, with online guidelines explaining its use to volunteering organizations and operators. The partner ENTER coordinated the collection of all the tools developed and proposed by the partners for the training of volunteers and their trainers, the partners added further tools thus building a kit that includes 52 different activities, translated into the languages of the partners, the PR3 'TOOLKIT for voluntary organisations to raise awareness on sustainable economy issues'. All phases of the project and the WPs were carried out with significant collaboration between the partners, who contributed with their skills and made themselves available even for activities not strictly related to their usual field of work. The transversal management of the project by the coordinator, together with continuous and careful supervision and verification of deadlines and assigned tasks, facilitated the relationship between the partners and contributed to creating that climate of strong team working that characterized the entire development of the project. The results achieved are a clear demonstration of this and the great satisfaction from the partners is confirmed, as also evidenced by the last feedback questionnaire.

Results: R1 – CODE of skills and recruitment models for sustainable economy volunteers (EN, IT, ES, FR, DE, NL) This CODE OF COMPETENCES collects all the analysis carried out by the partners and the evidence that emerged starting from the current situation of volunteering and the involvement of volunteers themselves in organizations, and reasoning on the roles that the volunteer can play within organizations on the basis of the skills and knowledge deemed necessary. A point of particular attention is the match between the expectations of the volunteer and the real offer of the organization, both of which concern this code of competences. R2 - GUIDELINES for the training of sustainable economy volunteers and their trainers (EN, IT, ES, FR, DE, NL) This result includes 3 training modules that have been developed by the partners to be used by volunteers and volunteer trainers. The 3 modules, which are divided into 8 units in total, cover the following topics: • Guide to the Volunteers Journey • Organising Volunteers • Sustainable Economy The guidelines explain the courses in detail and suggest methods of carrying them out, as well as providing an overview of the path that led to their definition. R3 - TOOLKIT for organisations and volunteers on skills and paths of sustainable economy development (EN, IT, ES, FR, DE, NL) The third result takes up all the components that have been developed during the project, and consists of a kit that includes 52 different tools made available to volunteers, volunteer organizations and anyone who wants to use them. The activities developed include videos, readings, role-plays, voluntary management models, tools for internal communication, in-depth resources on the climate crisis and sustainable development. All tools are accessible and translated into the partners' languages, with references in the case of innovative materials created by the partners themselves or materials accessible through other platforms. Training modules are also included in the kit. The most significant outcome of the project is certainly having created this toolkit that is easy to access and use by any user, both from the world of fair trade and from other realities. The comparison between the partners of the different European countries, with different training models and involvement of volunteers and civil society, has made it possible to create a truly heterogeneous and versatile product ranging from formal to informal learning through very different activities. The path carried out throughout the project has also been very enriching in terms of knowledge and training among the partners, it has allowed the participants to acquire new knowledge that we are already bringing back to our activities. In addition, almost 600 people were involved in training activities of different kinds, including formal meetings and lectures to students, or training to other organizations. In addition to these, about 100 people participated in the Multiplier Events, confirming an important impact of the project on the various local communities. The strength of this project is its strong correlation with the current reality with a particular attention to the future of volunteering: we have not carried out abstract or only partially applicable studies, but we have overturned the model starting from the needs of those who had to benefit from the results, not of those who analyzed them only as study models. The partners agree that the project has been remarkably successful in achieving the objectives, that it has at least indirectly helped the partner organisations to recruit new volunteers and that it has been an opportunity to share good practices and acquire new skills related to the recruitment and management of volunteers. The project stimulated the interest of the partners to deepen aspects of volunteering and its management that were still linked to old models. Another important outcome concerns the attention to sustainability and climate change issues, because during the experiments these issues were addressed in relation to fair trade practices and this created both a training module focused on this topic and some tools included in the kit, both dedicated to the deepening of these issues and the dissemination of knowledge on SDGs and sustainability.