Category: Current

Pro Vobis – The National Resource Centre for Volunteerism together with the National Association of the Librarians and Public Libraries of Romania (ANBPR), are implementing in the period of May 2014-June 2015 the project called “The Initiative Shelf – Developing Volunteering Programs in Libraries”, financed by the SEE Grants 2009-2014 included in the ONG Fond in Romania.

The project has the objective to diversify the opportunities of involvement through volunteering in the public libraries from Romania, who would offer qualitative opportunities to involve the citizens of any ages in the benefit of the communities they serve.

Expected results:

-15 public libraries as direct beneficiaries of the project;

-30 public librarians to be trained in Management of Volunteering Programs and Volunteer Management

-organizing 2 extra training sessions, on subjects based on the identified needs of the 30 participant librarians, to capacitate them to implement sustainable volunteering programs;

-15 public events called “Initiative Shelf”, to promote the results of the pilot programs, organized during the National Volunteering Week 2015 (11-17 May 2015);

-creating 15 Information Points regarding volunteering opportunities inside the selected libraries;

-implementing 15 pilot volunteering programs to take place in libraries in a minimum 6 months period;

-offering personalized consultancy to libraries in the processes of selecting and implementing of pilot volunteering programs;

-diversification of volunteering opportunities offered by libraries, accentuating on the no-hate speech activities;

-diversification of the categories of people involved in the volunteering programs promoted by libraries;

-creating and promoting the concept of “V Library” – a dynamic library, open to all ages and social groups, that keeps up with the needs of the community and with the modern methodologies of involving the citizens;

-evaluation of the libraries that participated in the project with a system of badges, given accordingly to the efficiency of the volunteering programs implemented and of the professionalism of volunteers management.

For further information please access www.raftulcuinitiativa.provobis.ro (in Romanian only) or contact us at: 0264 412897/ 0755045100, email: corina@provobis.ro, contact person: Corina Pintea, project coordinator.

During the period of May 2014 and May 2015, Pro Vobis will implement the project called “Employee looking for Volunteering”, a project financed through the SEE Grants 2009-2014 included in the NGO Fond in Romania, with the purpose to develop and promote Employer Support Volunteering in Romania.

The most recent studies in Romania (2011) show an increase at the level of companies involvement in social responsibility projects, and also of the employees who express a significant desire to participate in community life through volunteering. The benefits for both parts are many and we can enumerate only some: good reputation of the company in the community, teambuilding and insuring the employees loyalty to the company by offering divers range of activities and opportunities to get involved. Even so, there is a low number of companies that have clear standards and procedures of offering  their employees volunteering opportunities and the necessary support. On the other hand, on the side of the NGO’s there is also a lack of professional knowledge and working procedures when it comes to work with companies as partners, to have volunteers who are employees and to adapt the activities to their specific needs and skills.

In this context, the project “Employee looking for Volunteering” had the purpose to create and develop a viable and multipliable model of Employer Support Volunteering, to involve the employees in the community with the support of their company, to promote volunteering inside the companies and the corporate environment and to capacitate the NGO’s to work with volunteers that are employees of companies.

In this project Pro Vobis will work both from Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest, involving directly 4 companies and 10 NGO’s, that will learn how to work together qualitatively and with the specialists in Pro Vobis, will develop a viable and multipliable model of Employer Support Volunteering and a set of instruments dedicated to increase the quality of these projects (internal policies, procedures and standards that state clear the support that companies offer for their employees in the volunteering activities, sheets of monitoring and evaluation of the activities and volunteers, model of volunteering contracts, etc).

10 teams of volunteers from 4 companies (2 from Cluj-Napoca and Bucharest), consisting in 50 employees, will beneficiate of a personalised volunteer activity that will offer them the possibility to get involved in their community and also to get to know their colleagues in a more non-formal environment. The employee’s  needs, wishes, skills and availability for volunteering will be assed based on an online questionnaire and a personalized workshop organized by Pro Vobis, and then matched with 10 NGO’s that can offer them the right volunteering activity. The teams of employees and also the NGO’s will benefit of personalised and continuous consultancy from Pro Vobis in all stages of the projects and of the activity management: matching, planning of the activity, monitoring, implementing and evaluation of the activity. At the end of all 10 volunteering activities, the companies will organize a Photo Exhibition with photographs from the activities of their employees.  The model created during the project will be disseminated through the country in specific workshops and conferences.

More about the project you can find on the dedicated website: www.win-win.ro, or you can contact us at: Daniela@provobis.ro or Carmen@provobis.ro , contact person: Daniela Temelie (coordinator for Cluj-Napoca activities) and Carmen Marcu (coordinator for Bucharest activities).