The National Conference on Volunteering

The National Conference on Volunteering is a singular event on the landscape of the Romanian civil society's life that first took place in 2001 out of the need of communication of those who entered the field- then barely explored in Romania - of volunteering.

The National Conference on Volunteering is addressed to all those who have understood that a prosperous and modern society is one in which each individual brings its own voluntary contribution to the development of the community in which he/she lives, either by offering the time, knowledge, energy, skills and abilities or the experience one might possess, or by offering financial support for the voluntary initiatives in the community. This is the vision of the Pro Vobis National Volunteer Center and thus we took on the challenge of meeting this need by annually hosting this event!

The main objectives of the event are:

1. the facilitation of exchange of information, experiences and good practice in the field of volunteering in Romania;
2. facilitating the contact between various actors that take interest in the development of the volunteer movement in Romania, in order for them to undertake further collaboration in the promotion and development of volunteering, and thus gather as much support as possible for the romanian volunteer movement;
3. the professional development of the organisations/institutions involved in the volunteer movement and their representatives.

Editia a III-a, Bucuresti 5-7 mai 2004

Participation
One hundred and twenty three persons joined the third edition of the National Conference on Volunteering, representing 80 organisations (11 public institutions – national and local, of which 5 foreign and 6 Romanian, 1 company, 8 donor institutions and 60 NGOs). As for their geographical distribution, this edition’s participants represented 26 localities from 22 counties (including Bucharest).

Contents
The first day was dedicated to the official opening of the Conference and the presentation of 9 successful volunteer programs. The second day of the Conference was dedicated to workshops – oriented on 4 directions: (1) capacity development, - in order to support volunteer programs; (2) volunteer management; (3) innovative aspects of involving volunteers; (4) laboratory – how to set up a volunteer center. The next day’s focus was discussion-groups, on 6 domains of activity: ecological, social – child protection, civic and educational, European exchanges, corporate volunteering, citizens’ advice bureaus. Each of these domains was debated from the viewpoint of the specifics of volunteering activities and the ways of making the involvement of volunteers in that particular field more effective and diverse.

Results
The Volunteer Center in Simeria was set up following the Conference, its initiator having been trained within the “How to set up a volunteer center” laboratory. Also striving for this are Oradea and Brasov, each of these cities having had one participant at the above-mentioned laboratory.

Second edition, Cluj-Napoca, 19-22 June, 2003

Participants
The second edition of the Conference brought together 110 participants representing 70 organisations from 20 counties, and several donor agencies that regularly finance volunteer programs implemented in Romania.

Contents
The two main objectives of the Conference were: (1) the professional development of the participants, in order to enable them to involve volunteers in an effective manner in their organisations and (2) common action and common vision of the organisations active in the field of volunteering in Romania. The first day’s activities were centered around the first objective; the program was structured in workshops during which volunteer management topics were discussed. A special workshop debated the topic of the ways of making use of the volunteering experience in the academic process. The second day of the Conference hosted a plenary session discussing the need for unifying volunteer activities in Romania, for an improved promotion of the concept and good-practice of volunteering in this field. A special section focused on presenting successful volunteer programs by several of the representatives of the NGOs present at the Conference, a section praised as being highly useful by all participants.

Results
The Conference served as a meeting place of all organisations that have a tradition in working with volunteers, but also of those who wished to involve volunteers in a professional manner in their activities and came to learn from the experience of others. Following the exchange of experience that took place during the Conference, three new volunteer centers were created: in Bacau, Bucharest and the village of Vladesti, in Valcea county.

First edition, Cluj-Napoca, 3-6 December, 2001

Participants
The first edition of the Conference brought to Cluj-Napoca 80 participants representing organisations and institutions from 18 counties, including representatives of donor agencies active in Romania.

Contents
The first edition of the Conference had on its agenda topics that are inherent to any beginings. The participants debated the principles of volunteering and what exactly good-practice means in this field, and they analysed the (then) recent law on volunteering. Another debated topic was the designs of volunteer programs used by the organisations that were present at the Conference.

Results
The participants adopted by consensus several resolutions regarding the importance of volunteering for Romania and the support of the Universal Declaration on Volunteering, launched at the end of the International Year of Volunteering. Several proposals were made for the improvement of the law of volunteering in Romania, suggestions that represented the foundation of the campaign for the modification of this law. On the occasion of the Conference, the www.voluntariat.ro web-page and the Voluntariat.Ro magazine were launched, in time both becoming resources for volunteers and organisations. Following the discussions initiated during the Conference, the volunteer centers in Constanta, Turda, Satu Mare and Sighisoara were set up.