We bring you an article from the journal Sociální práce/Sociálna práca published in issue 4/2011, which focused on the topic of Volunteering and social work. Recently, research on volunteering carried out within the framework of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 was completed in Slovakia. The study “Volunteering in Slovakia – Research Reflections” as part of the National Campaign for EYV consisted of two parts. The first part consisted of representative quantitative research and the second part was based on qualitative methodology. The aim of the research was to obtain an overview of volunteering in Slovakia, determine and analyze the scope of volunteering, its structure, identify resources and effective strategies important for the activities of selected organizations working with volunteers, and predict the future of volunteering in Slovakia. Alžbeta Brozmanová Gregorová, who was one of its co-authors, comments on the research results and the direction of volunteering in Slovakia.
What surprised you most about the results of the research on volunteering in Slovakia? I was personally surprised by how many people in Slovakia are involved in volunteer activities. Within the research, we monitored formal and informal volunteering (editor’s note: so-called formal volunteering is organized by a volunteer center, a nonprofit organization, or directly by the service provider). In Slovakia, 27.5% of the total adult population is involved in formal volunteering, and within informal volunteering it is as many as 47.1% of inhabitants. I think these are very good numbers, on which we can point out that volunteering exists in Slovakia and is the concern of a large group of people.
Did previous research not show such participation in volunteer activities? Comparing this with other research on volunteering in Slovakia is very problematic. Although several studies on this topic have already been carried out in Slovakia, their methodologies differ, providing considerably different data on what percentage of the population actually participates in volunteer activities. If we look, for example, at research from 2003–2004, we find that the data documenting the rate of volunteering range from 13 to 46%, which calls the reliability of these data into question.
What is Slovakia’s position regarding volunteering research in comparison with Europe? As for research in Europe, I can compare the data from our research with the Czech Republic, where the study was carried out last year. In the Czech Republic, they recorded a higher rate of people’s participation in formal volunteering compared with Slovakia, while in informal volunteering the volunteering rate in Slovakia is higher. This means that formal volunteering is related to the development of the volunteering infrastructure, which I think is at a higher level in the Czech Republic than in Slovakia. A report on volunteering within the European Union was also issued. The report is based on the results of research carried out in Slovakia in previous years and, on that basis, classifies us among countries with a low participation rate. According to our research, however, we belong among countries with a medium participation rate in volunteer activities, similar to most Central European countries and other developed countries.
Your research shows that at present the greatest number of volunteers are active precisely in the area of social services. What does this imply for social work? In my opinion, this is one of the important challenges for social work. Social services are an area in which volunteer participation has significantly increased, and social services are precisely the area in which social workers can also apply themselves as coordinators of volunteer programs, thereby contributing to the professionalization of work with volunteers.
What is important for the further development of volunteering within its research? There are several topics. The research helped us gain an overview at a basic level, but each of the individual topics or dimensions we addressed in the research would deserve separate research. Whether it is the scope of volunteering, regularity, stability, or motivation, barriers, social profile, professionalization of work with volunteers. And not only from the perspective of, for example, active volunteers or the general population, but also from the perspective of people who manage volunteer programs as part of their work.
In connection with volunteering, the concept of “Service learning” is also being promoted, as a way to activate potential volunteers and at the same time as a tool for their professionalization. What is your experience with this concept? I perceive the concept of Service learning as a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful volunteer experience with education and reflection. It is a concept that, in my opinion, is also applicable in the education of social workers and social work practitioners, but not only in the education of this target group. Abroad, it has been developing already since primary school. We also have experience with it at Matej Bel University within several courses. If we want to integrate volunteering into education, it is necessary to connect practical experience with the goals of education, with students’ theoretical preparation, to follow theoretical preparation with real practical experience, and then to reflect the experience back into theoretical preparation. I see this as a very good model for educating people for volunteering.
What are the advantages of this concept? I see its advantages in the development of specific knowledge and skills needed both for everyday life and for the labor market, and in the personal development of the people who become involved in these activities. An important characteristic and another advantage is that it is based on the needs of the community, or it should be. As a result, through its use we can meet the needs of the community in which this concept develops.
Could you illustrate with a concrete example what you yourself have done in this area? At the university we have a course called “Work with the Roma Ethnic Group,” and students had the opportunity within this course to choose between a volunteer experience or regular seminars. This created one group preferring the aforementioned volunteer experience, with which we implemented a project in a Roma settlement. The task of the students together with young people from the Roma settlement was to go through training for the preparation of a volunteer program, to prepare the volunteer program together, and to implement it for children and youth in the Roma settlement. In this way we managed to involve Roma youth, who became not only recipients of volunteer activities but also active subjects in carrying them out. For the students, it was precisely this experience, alongside theoretical education related to work with the Roma ethnic group and specifically volunteer management, that gave them a volunteer experience. This was then followed by their reflection within group meetings, as well as individual reflection on their experiences.
What is the sustainability of students for the area of volunteering? Personally, I am finding confirmation of what research findings also say. It appears that the biggest barrier to not getting involved in volunteer activities is not being asked for help, that in reality no one asked the person. On the other hand, I believe that the way to gain volunteers is through concrete volunteer offers, through direct contact with the people we want to reach. In my opinion, in the first phase of acquiring volunteers it is about personal contact. Only then does the question arise of their sustainability, how attractive the program and experience are, how much it provides them with what they expected from it, how their expectations matched the expectations of the organization they worked for, and so on.
What is your experience? Is it possible to keep volunteers in their activity? To a certain extent yes, it is very individual. Also thanks to the fact that I teach at a university and work in the Volunteer Center, I realize that quality management of a volunteer program requires the whole person. The entire activity is sustainable when you, as the coordinator, invest enough energy into it for it to be sustainable. If that is not the case, then the people you work with gradually lose motivation. For example, simply because you are not in contact with them.
What do you think would help increase the prestige of volunteering? There are several trends in this regard. I like one that speaks of the so-called productization of volunteering. This means that we should package volunteer activity as a product so that it is clear what a person can gain through volunteering, how much time we need to invest in the volunteer activity, what the experience will bring us and what it will bring the other side. That should be clear. Just as when you buy any other product. In Slovakia, in my opinion, we do not know how to do that - we do not know how to sell the volunteer experience as a commodity. And especially in the area of youth volunteering, this would be very necessary.
So is this part of some kind of marketing or volunteering policy? I am not sure whether there is any volunteering policy in Slovakia. Certainly, the adoption of the Volunteer Act was an important step, which we succeeded in this year. We are now at the very beginning, we have research, we have a law, and we can begin to create a policy in the area of volunteering and a strategy for supporting volunteering in Slovakia.
The interview for the journal Sociální práce/Sociálna práca was prepared by Michaela Lipčaková and Eliška Barochová
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