EmpowerCare: Elevating Volunteer Excellence for Enhanced Care Across Europe

EmpowerCare aims to enhance the volunteering practices in care facilities through exchange of knowledge and best practices. Our goal is to establish connections between and within all participatin...

EmpowerCare aims to enhance the volunteering practices in care facilities through exchange of knowledge and best practices. Our goal is to establish connections between and within all participating countries, Ireland, Slovenia, and Portugal, encourage volunteer mentors in care homes to foster cooperation, share good practices and remain open for new ideas to the benefit of home residents and volunteers, while demonstrating to the state the importance of quality volunteering in the care sector.

There are four main activities in EmpowerCare: networking (on national and international levels); study visits, facilitating the exchange of knowledge and good practices; groundwork, including support and counselling for volunteer mentors and care facilities, advocacy, and promotion of volunteering in the care sector. And lastly, we plan to produce a Toolkit of good practices in the care sector which will serve as a learning instrument and means of promotion even after the project completion.

We expect the EmpowerCare to deliver: empowerment of volunteer mentors and enhancement of quality volunteer programmes in care homes; strengthening of national and international connections in the care sector, leading to an enhanced exchange of best practices and knowledge; a broader perspective on volunteering in care benefiting advocacy efforts; raised awareness on the importance of quality volunteering among the care facilities, staff and volunteers, as well as the policy-makers.