TrainVol: Capacity Building of Civil Society to Strengthen Volunteerism Management and Promote Volunteerism among Youth

The TrainVol project aims to develop an alternative mechanism promoting skills development and labor market inclusion for young people (especially vulnerable groups) through volunteerism, following a sustainable and replicable cascading model. This key target will be accomplished by building the capacities primarily of key civil society actors (youth workers) to organize voluntary programs, effectively engage, orientate, train and manage young people who wish to participate in organized volunteering activities, and facilitate their smooth integration; and secondarily, of young people (mostly NEETs) to take up an active role in volunteerism. The project’s aims correspond directly to the overall project objective which is focused on utilizing volunteerism as a key tool for promoting social inclusion, mainly for vulnerable youth (NEETS, ESL, low-skilled, socially marginalized and/or disengaged),and a way of combining civic engagement, active citizenship and social inclusion with non-formal and informal learning and capacity building.Given the low penetration rate of volunteerism in the participating countries sand the demonstrated underdevelopment of the field in terms of know-how and practice, the project puts great emphasis on engaging Civil Society (NGOs, voluntary and youth organizations, Youth Workers etc) through a number of awareness raising and networking activities, as well as capacitating youth workers/leaders implementing (or wishing to implement) voluntary activities but do not possess the know-how. To achieve these objectives, the project will directly involve youth workers in strategic, integrated national and transnational activities (capacity building workshops, mobility, networking, opportunities to build international cooperation and synergies etc) and provide them with the necessary knowledge, skills and tools to design, manage, implement and assess voluntary programs at national and international levels.The project is largely focused on providing additional opportunities for young people with fewer opportunities to 1)feel part of their communities by engaging in civic life and driving positive impact in the society, and 2) Develop their skills, knowledge and competences through training in volunteering and participation in voluntary activities, contributing that way to their personal and professional development and employability. Taking all the above aims, objectives and actions into account, TrainVol will follow a cascading methodology for maximizing the penetration rate of its outputs that foresees the following activities: development of capacity building materials for each target-group (youth workers and young potential volunteers); involvement of youth workers in mobility activities in all participating countries to get trained, familiarized with each country’s realities, best practices, challenges and network etc.; facilitate networking activities among CSOs; and train in volunteerism and certify young people.