The FCV will carry out an international seminar with the participation of 25 youth workers:
The international seminar ‘Equal Volunteering Opportunities for All’ will take place from 1 to 7 September, in Vilanova i la Geltrú (Barcelona), at the Hotel César, with the participation of 25 youth workers who are managers, volunteer coordinators, educators, leaders and trainers actively involved in 18 non-profit and non-governmental entities (including 5 local and national volunteer centers) from 13 countries: Turkey, Italy, Portugal Greece, Northern Macedonia, United Kingdom, Hungary, Ireland, Croatia, Romania, Germany, Catalonia and Bulgaria.
The seminar, organized by the FCV with the support of the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission, will allow us to learn from the different experiences and join efforts for a common goal, shared by all the entities, to help young people of non-EU nationalities to volunteer and express their solidarity, their capacities and their culture for the benefit of the whole population and, especially, for the benefit of the most vulnerable groups.
For this, we will analyze, first of all, what difficulties they face in participating in volunteering initiatives, which is caused by a particularly complex situation (uncertainty, insecurity, risk of social exclusion and poverty, if not because of being discriminated against),and secondly, share experiences, practices, mistakes and successes and identify those management, educational and social tools that, due to their inclusive, participative, formative and results-oriented nature, may be more relevant to improve our work.
The seminar will address the lack of a subjective right to volunteer and how this lack of foresight implies institutionalized discrimination against many people, by preventing them from joining a volunteer organization because of their administrative situation.
In the seminar we will reflect on the role of voluntary organizations and centers as a driving force behind citizenship and active social inclusion and we will learn, from each other, to design programs focused on promoting participation, initiative, leadership and cultural expression. Moreover, we will focus on the difficulties that may exist, and find new perspectives and ways of working and, thanks to the use of a methodology based on peer learning and exchange, we will create new knowledge in a collaborative way.
The focus of the FCV is on being able to identify those practices and tools that work and on developing 5 specific competences, which are volunteer management; -intercultural communication; – management of cultural diversity; – conflict management and – global awareness, these are competences with great value in themselves, selected on this occasion for their usefulness at the moment of incorporating people as volunteers with diverse profiles, personal experiences and cultures.
For more information about the activity you can send an email to: projectes@catalunyavoluntaria.cat