VOLUNTEER - KEY TO THE FUTURE

This project brings together volunteers active in organisations within the field of non-formal education and those working within the development sector.  Both of kinds of organisations have a strong tradition in working with volunteers, each with their own approach adapted to the needs of their sector.  Common factors are the peer-to-peer way of working and (for most of them) the educational style of Don Bosco.  By bringing volunteers together of these organisations we want to offer them a chance to reflect on their experiences, discuss on the challenges they are facing and voicing their opinions on local, national and even European level.

Each promoter will have a national meeting prior to the European youth congress.  At this national meeting the promoter will facilitate a discussion on the challenges and opportunities of volunteering, in which their local youth can take part.  From this group one or two young people are selected to represent the promoter at the European youth congress.  The issues raised at the national meeting will come back at the European youth congress.  During these sessions the youth representatives will be asked to not only share their personal opinions, but as well the general opinion of the group of youth they are representing.  After the European youth congress the promoters organise a second national meeting where their “youth representatives” feedback the experience to their peers and share the outcomes with the partner promoters.  In this way the practice of representative democracy is used as the red line throughout the project.

 At the European youth congress the participants will be motivated to start-up their own initiatives to deal with the challenges they are facing with volunteering.  At the second national meeting, the task of the youth representatives can be divided into three main actions: 

1.  they will give a full report of their experience in Krakow during the European youth congress to the volunteers involved in their local organisations,
   
2.  they will present their initiative to their local youth group and motivate them to help to carry out their initiative and,
   
3.  they will work together with the local volunteers to inform other similar organisations about their experiences throughout the project.
   

 At the European youth congress the participants will meet and work together with different policy makers (local, regional, national, European and international).  As we are asking the policy makers to step into the project in the same manner as the young people, we are creating the opportunity to let the policy makers experience the motivation youth has at grass-roots level.  At the same time the involved young people will learn to understand better the work policy makers are doing.