Vision 21 - 2004-2006
- Scope
- Objectives
- Results
- Experimentation
- European networks
- French networks
- Publications & Presentations
Introduction
Volunteer organizations will get a chance to develop valuable links with social services institutions, and therefore to extend their sphere of activity and broaden the range of volunteer placement possibilities. Research bodies will gain valuable insight into the practicalities of volunteer-aided social work in different countries, which may prove an interesting object of study for social policy and volunteering research.
(1) By confronting their own experiences with those of their counterparts from other countries, social workers and voluntary sector activists will become better equipped to successfully tackle social exclusion and other problems facing the clients of social work agencies: the poor, the disabled, the elderly, ethnic minorities. A new handbook and a web-portal will provide valuable reference tools, and ensure a lasting impact.
(2) Providers of social worker training will have an opportunity to enrich their course programmes with good practice examples and experiences from abroad. This will improve course quality and, consequently, boost the prestige and popularity of these institutions.
This two-year project is designed to facilitate cross-national exchange and dissemination of good practice in the cooperation between social services institutions and voluntary organizations. It will focus on ways to effectively recruit, train and supervise volunteers for the purposes of social work. Teaming up with the voluntary sector can substantially increase the capacity of social work bodies to cater for the needs of disadvantaged groups (the poor, the disabled, the elderly). This, in turn, should aid social inclusion and improve quality of life of the socially marginalized, thus contributing to greater social cohesion.
I. Scope
Initiated by a Polish Institute, the IRSS, this European project under the Grundtvig programme means to tackle social inclusion in the 21st Century thanks to volunteering. Four countries are concerned : France, Italy, Poland and Spain. First, partners will hold meeetings at country level to pool local knowledge and prepare contributions to the main seminar. Then, representatives will hold a preparatory meeting in Warsaw to thrash out the programme of the main seminar. Next, the main international seminar on good practice in volunteer-aided social work will take place in Warsaw. In the second year partners will develop a new handbook for social workers on how to work with volunteers. The handbook will be drafted in English and subsequently translated into the languages of project participants. Another end product will be a web portal bringing together social workers and voluntary sector activists. The State of the art concerning the training proposed to volunteers in France was inspired by the one done for the Vaeb project.
II. Objectives
The main objectives are:
(1) Pooling knowledge and experiences in cooperation between the social services sector and voluntary organizations;
(2) collecting and disseminating good practice examples;
(3) strengthening the capacity of social work bodies to deliver quality assistance for disadvantaged groups (the poor, the disabled, the elderly, ethnic minorities;
(4) facilitating social inclusion and an improved quality of life for marginalized groups to achieve greater social cohesion.
III. Results
- Cross-European exchange of experiences and good practice in setting up successful cooperation between social services institutions and the voluntary sector.
- A comparative assessment of volunteer-aided social work in countries representing alternative social policy models (post-communist, Mediterranean, Northern European).
- Developing a new handbook for social workers on how to recruit, train and supervise volunteers, encompassing good practice examples from the participating countries.
- Setting up an international web-portal for a day-to-day exchange of ideas between social workers and voluntary sector activists. It will feature, inter alia, articles, reports from interesting events, a discussion forum, links to social work agencies and voluntary organizations in the participating countries etc.
IV. Experimentation
Several meetings were held in France by iriv (autumn 2006) in partnership with local teams of local development in the XIXth and XIVth districts of Paris.
V. European networks
 |
Partner |  Spain |
http://www. assfam.org |
 |
Partner |  France |
http://www.iriv.net |
 |
Project leader |  Poland |
www.irss.and.pl |
 |
Partner |  Italy |
http://www.lunaria.org |
VI. French networks
- Maison du combattant et des associations du XIXème arrondissement de Paris
- Centres sociaux du XIXème arrondissement
- Equipe de développement local du XIVème arrondissement de Paris
- Observatoire Décentralisé de l’Action sociale (ODAS)
- Association Fondation Etudiante pour la Ville (AFEV)
- Fondation Claude Pompidou
VII. Publications & Presentations
Research Reports
Others
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