Increasing Volunteers' Skills across Europe – InVolvEDuring the so-called refugee crisis 2015 and 2016 a large series of impressive voluntary campaigns and gestures has been developed all over Europe. But this amazing work, in many cases, originate also tremendous side effects stress and pressure as well following words from a volunteer who works around the refugee camp near Calais in France might give example: “Working on a camp can be exhausting and upsetting but to see the human spirit continue to shine through adversity puts many of my trivial concerns into perspective.” (Quoted from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/sep/02/meet-the-volunteers-europe-refugee-crisis) Not everyone is in a position to cope with physically and mentally exhausting unpaid work.Volunteers generally bring varying blends of technical expertise and other life skills to their role. They also have personal expectations of what they will achieve through volunteering. Regardless of the particular setting, volunteers often are dealing with singular difficulties and performance-related problems. The following situations can be observed among volunteers:a) A fading motivation throughout the time or in case of changing tasks and responsibilities as well as in circumstances of upcoming troubles,b) A lack of self-awareness and self-regulation regarding psychic risk, over commitment, overload of work, etc. c) An insufficient capacity to face and/or solve conflicts (conflicts with supported persons, with other volunteers or with professionals).These difficulties are probably not a lot different from other businesses, except a much greater ‘voluntary’ element influencing the outcomes. It is much easier for a volunteer to withdraw (or reduce) their service if they are not motivated or able to handle with the above mentioned situations. Correspondingly, a priority relays on delivering specialized training to build up among volunteers the related capacities of self-awareness and self-regulation, to learn and practice skills which enables volunteers to identify and minimise or overcome the above mentioned difficulties in field. The implementing partners from 10 EU member states have asserted that in their own training design the issue of soft skill training in volunteering environments isn’t considered satisfactorily and that tailor-made training programs would overcome this competency gap. The project creates a framework to support and push exchange of best practices of training arrangements that are focus on enhancing soft skills and preventing the above mentioned difficulties, and knowledge sharing in matters of curriculum, standards and tools for volunteer training (include staff training). Besides this overall goal, the project specific objectives are to:1. “browse” national and European best practices and and related experiences, products (curriculums, tool boxes, learning materials, etc.); 2. collect methodological information on how to develop training programs for strengthen soft skills in setting of voluntarism, taking in special account:a. the particular learning resources that volunteers have available; b. the democratic imperative to increase the inclusion of adults with social disadvantages; c. the innovative use of digital media in the training process; 3. identify essential elements for the development an efficient open training program tailored to the specific needs of two target groups: a. the board members and managing staff members in civil society organisations which engage volunteers in their work, to strengthen organizational readiness and volunteer management resources; b. volunteers themselves providing with the resources and information they need to strengthen their soft skills for self management, conflict solving, psychic resilience focused to do their specific volunteer contribution and to ensure their well being; 4. increase the capacities of the participant organisations and their staff members regarding language skills, intercultural competences and networking on international level. Considering the different institutional, academic and even cultural backgrounds as well as variety multi-faceted approaches to training of volunteers, the partner organisations are aware of avoiding a one-size-fits-all approach and based on that conviction, they stress on the need to develop a very concise overview of the best practices of learning design. Meeting these differences and dealing with them is not only about demonstrating the competency for transnational cooperation and the organisation's overall capability, but it is also one pathway to achieve the project targets and a solid resource to improve existing efforts. I

"The main theme of the project is set out from the title of the project: family literacy. The choice of theme was made as a result of reality observed: the decisive influence that literacy skills have on children academic success and their social integration. Two factors contribute greatly to overcoming the threats of social exclusion and poverty: the role and attitude of the family in creating a literary environment conducive to learning, and early education. The aim of the project was to sustain families in literacy skills by supporting reading in order to increase the access of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, to quality education.The five partners organizations of the project were selected for their experiences and expertise in literacy and educational programs with children and adults and participation together in other European projects. Learn&Vision Association was the coordinator of the project.The proposed objectives ensured consistency and quality in achievement. Thus, based on a comparative analysis, good literacy practices have been identified in the partner countries (O1). Professional competencies have been defined for a new occupational profile, ""Facilitator of family literacy"" (O2). The training course for facilitators (curriculum, methodology, learning materials) (O3) has been developed. The facilitators have designed literacy programs piloted in families. The analysis of the piloting efficiency of the family literacy training program, by various methods, has supplemented the research component removed from the project application. All the objectives were accompanied by methodologies that contributed to a unity of vision, integrating cultural differences. The debates in the project meetings played an important role in achieving the objectives, in compliance with the quality standards. An important role in designing the literacy facilitator course in the family was LTT Activity, with a high scientific level, Portugal, February 2018.The achievement of the objectives was completed by the translation of the project results in the participating countries' languages and ensuring free access.The projects’ results were possible because all partners had experience in European projects and expertise on the issue of family literacy, teamwork skills, cooperation and experiences from different cultural contexts.The objectives were finalized by the results of the project:1. The Comparative analysis of good literacy practices in the family in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia(IO1) is a report based on a Research Methodology that proposes the collection of data for comparative analysis using a questionnaire on the literacy programs of the participating countries and identifying six good literacy practices in the family, one for each country, two for Romania.2. Occupational profile of Family Literacy Facilitator(IO2). This intellectual product was based on a comparative analysis of good practice as a prerequisite for design the ocupational profile. A condition assumed by the project, also achieved, was the harmonization of the profile with the Eurpean Qualifications Framework to increase the chances of validation on the labor market.3. Family Literacy Facilitators Training Program(IO3)The curriculum is based on the FLF occupational profile (IO2). The following 6 key Competence Areas include the competencies of FLF: Professional Competences, Pedagogy and Andragogy Competences, Facilitation Competencies, Interpersonal and Social Relations Competences, Organizational Competences, Personal Growth Competencies.111 people from the 5 countries participated in the training course for family literacy facilitators(vs 55 planned). They delivered pilot programs to 608 children and adults, many of whom were from disadvantage families. Through the activities carried out on the project, face-to-face or on-line 3102 people were involved. Project visibility was achieved through multiplayer events (8 vs. 6 planned), attended by 377 stakeholders vs 240 anticipated: educators, trainers, librarians, social assistances, local authorities.Another impact has been achieved through media and social media appearances (e.g. 6 press releases, 10 articles) more than we anticipated.The impact of our project at the level of each partner organizations means an increased capacity to offer family literacy programmes, cooperation with other organizations in promoting family literacy and ensures national visibility on the issue of family literacy; The facilitators trained in the program won better family literacy facilitation skills, improved awareness of literacy-supportive home learning environments and interactive methods of learning.The novelty of the project is that it brings together the results in an effective package in different national contexts, which define the professional profile of the family literacy facilitator, skills and competencies achieved through curriculum."