From 22th to 26th November we met the representatives of Cap Solidaire (France) and ART SQUARE (Luxembourg) to carry out "VOLEM", the project funded by ERASMUS + programme which aims to strengthen the recognition of key competences acquired by young people during voluntary activities.
This time, the learning activity was hosted by the French partner, and allowed us to continue the various stages of testing, development and promotion of the results: we met the young volunteers of the French Civil Service, administrators and youth workers of local organizations who use this type of regional / national devices, to present and test the tools created through VOLEM.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by the Mayor of Langon, who introduced the structure and the municipal and civil society activities, enhancing the precious contribution of the volunteers.
Subsequently, the team concentrated on preparing the presentation activities and workshops that would follow in the upcoming days.
In fact, in the first days we tested together with some boys and girls of the French Civil Service and the Youth Guarantee program the board games produced in collaboration with the partners, aimed at bringing out the importance of volunteering and highlighting how much it can support young people in personal, professional, social and educational development.
The activity received very positive feedbacks, enriched by reflections on the various key terms, interest and curiosity on the part of the participants in relation to the topics covered, feedback and constructive criticisms useful for improving the tools themselves.
In the following days we visited various organizations that welcome volunteers included in national, regional and European programs, discussing with their representatives on the development and impact of non-formal and informal education on the participants, as well as on the potential for social innovation for facilities and the local community, but also on the challenges of the hospitality process.
We also had the opportunity to listen to the experiences of volunteers currently engaged in the projects of the Maurin Gardens Montessori Alternative School, the Mutual Help Group, an association that welcomes people with disabilities, the Municipality of Réole and the Solid’Avenir association. , but also of young people for whom this type of proposal represented the possibility of definitively entering the world of work.
It was also an opportunity to promote VOLEM’s objectives and results, investigating the interest in the future use of the tools produced.
There was no lack of study visits to relevant places in Bordeaux, virtuous from the point of view of the management of volunteer projects: La Fabrique Pola, a cultural organization that deals with visual art, whose contact person presented the "La Grande Tournée" project , which included the involvement of NEET in artistic workshops in different cities of the region and the organization of a final exhibition open to the public; the Youth Information Center, where we discussed the importance of involving young people for local development and the acquisition of transversal skills, but also on the possible methods to "tell" and recognize these skills (digital diaries and Open Badges).
On the last day we had the opportunity to discuss the feedback collected, in order to refine and make the tools of the tool-kit (Intellectual Output 2) more effective and definitively move on to the last phase of the project.
Soon, all the material will be made free to download from the website: https://www.volem-project.eu/it/homepage/
The next meeting will take place in 2022 in Luxembourg.
