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  Issue 58

   

Source (IZVoR) of humanism, tolerance and social welfare

Volunteers  

After six months of collecting data and processing the results, the Working Group of the Initiative for Legal Regulation of the volunteers’ status in Serbia – the IZVoR Initiative prepared the brochure which states the results of the workshops where volunteers from different organizations had taken place, as well as the results obtained on the basis of the processed questionnaires filled in by NGO representatives from the whole country. Since the volunteering’ s influence is considered to be the most important in the local community, the brochure contains the results of the focus groups from seven towns in Vojvodina, which represent the opinions of the local community’s representatives regarding that issue. The brochure was available to the visitors of last year’s NGO Fair in Skopje. 

In order to complete the collection of data, the Working Group IZVoR organized the conference called “Volunteers’ Status in Serbia” on 21 June 2005 in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, which was attended by over fifty NGO representatives from whole Serbia, representatives from the provincial secretariats of AP Vojvodina, from the National Employment Bureau, social work centres and the donors like the American Development Foundation (ADF), The International Centre for Nonprofit Law (ICNL) from Budapest. The results from the conference are the stated proposals for defining the rights and duties which are to be included in the future text of the proposal law on volunteer work.

The results obtained in the process of collecting data are considered to be the key ones for the further work of preparing the draft – law on volunteering and are to contribute to the legal regulation of the volunteers’ status in Serbia and adjusting the legislation to the European Union standards, which is IZVoR’s original goal.

The comprehensive examination of the opinions on volunteer work, the volunteers’ position and their rights, needs and duties in Serbia, shows that there is a lack of such work in Serbia, there is a great need of it and that all participants in the process of collecting data agree there is no good legal framework for engaging and protecting the volunteers. The need for passing the law that would regulate the volunteers’ position is more than obvious. Moreover, it is confirmed by the problems that the NGO sector in Serbia faces when (not)engaging volunteers and (not) cooperating with the NGOs and other actors in the local community; the communities’ (the institutions and the public) attitude towards the volunteers’ s work; the conditions in which volunteers work; volunteers’ work management, volunteers motivation and appraising the volunteers work; and finally, the lack of an adequate legal regulation.

All participants in the data collecting process share the idea that the law should clearly define the volunteer work. In the data collecting process, numerous suggestions were obtained regarding the definition of volunteering by the volunteers themselves and the NGO and local community representatives. On the basis of their suggestions, IZVoR concludes that the definition of the volunteer work should include some of the key words stated in the proposals like: volunteer work, work without any allowance, socially useful work, humanity, in the free time, and there is a proposal that the definition of volunteer work include it is an organized, conscious, part-time work. In addition, the results of the focus-groups suggest that the definition of volunteer work exclude words like: unpaid trainees whose status is determined with the Law on jobs and whose status is service providers on the basis of family and other regulations.

The common view of all participants in the project is that there is great benefit from the volunteering, both for the individuals and the community. Two benefits of the volunteer work are emphasized: the material one (the local community’s economic gain from the volunteer works in terms of savings) and the nonmaterial one. Things stated as nonmaterial benefit are: raising the civil awareness and citizens’ (especially young people’s) education; citizens’ self-organizing, more human and better society; relieving the burden of the institutions and the benefit for the volunteers themselves in terms of meeting the personal needs. On the basis of that, it was concluded that the volunteer work is an interactive process, which contributes for the welfare of all citizens and the society as a whole.

It was emphasized that volunteer work can be performed by everyone, depending on his or her knowledge, skills, competences and interests. The motives for volunteering are the key ones, of course. The results show that the motives for doing volunteer work can be different, but in general, they can be divided into two categories: motives related to meeting the personal needs (motivation regarding the work and education; private and personal aspects of the personal system of values); outside motives, that is motives directed towards the other people in the community (motivation concerning the civil awareness and the contribution for the society and the community, motivation of human, altruist character and motivation regarding the social value system).

The results show that the Law on volunteering must:

-include a clear definition of the volunteers and the volunteer work; 

-specify the organizations and the institutions that can engage volunteers;

-determine standards for organizations and institutions that can engage volunteers;

-specify the rights and the duties of the volunteers, and the organizations and institutions which engage them;

define the basic elements of the contract between the volunteer and the organization/institution;

determine the responsibility for the consequences and the competences for solving the …;

-follow the coordination on local level and the financial aspect in terms of regulating and covering the expenses.

The participants in the data collecting process for the preparation of the Law on volunteer work emphasize it is important to define the volunteers’ rights and duties, as well as the rights and duties of the organizations that engage them. The Law has to define precisely the volunteers’ rights:  verification and certifying the volunteers length of service, the right for allowance to cover the volunteers’ basic material expenses, the education, development, specialization, additional training, gaining experiences and the privileges.

The volunteering contract defines the relationship between the volunteer and the organization. All rights of the volunteers become responsibilities of the organizations that engage them, and which need to be fulfilled. The Law must also define the rights of the organizations, or the so-called volunteers’ responsibilities engaged in those organizations. An engaged volunteer has to act in accordance with the values, the mission, the goals, the standards and the quality of the of the organization it volunteers for and to fulfill his/her obligation for signing and respecting the volunteering contract.

The attitude of most of the participants in the data collecting process for the preparation of the draft-law on volunteer work is that the non-governmental organizations that possess experience in the volunteer management should act as individual intermediaries in the process of engaging volunteers. Few participants think that role should be assigned to the National Employment Bureau or to set up an inter-department body that will incorporate representatives from all sectors.

 

K.B. 

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