ValCoVol - Validation of Competences Acquired in Volunteering
People who engage with volunteers often have the difficulty of communicating an employer what knowledge and key qualifications they have acquired. Employers, in turn, often find it difficult to find out from the credentials of volunteer organizations what knowledge was acquired there, since these certificates usually describe the activities done, but not the acquired competencies.
ValCoVol provides an overview of projects, initiatives and methods for the validation of non-formal and informal learning achieved through volunteering. At the same time, instruments, models and systems are identified that validate the key competencies acquired in an honorary post. Objective: To inform employers about the skills acquired through voluntary work.
Click here for the project's website: valcovol.eu
Activities
- to implement an e-platform with access to initiatives and learning information materials that have been identified and collected in the course of the project, especially concerning successful models and best practice concepts for the validation of key competences acquired during volunteering and systems of recognition of competences acquired through non-formal and informal learning;
- to create an online interactive forum for networking, exchange of experience and good practice that makes use of real-time translation in eight spoken and 50 written languages, thus breaking down language barriers between users from different countries, and supporting ideas, foster exchange and assist initiatives that contribute to the European society as a whole;
- to summarize the findings in a “White Book for recognition of competences acquired through volunteering” that will give an overview about the current situation of the specific project environment in the partners’ countries, and present the initiatives, projects and materials with explanations in all languages of the partnership;
- to develop an easily adaptable template (“Key Competences Template”) for volunteer organisations to identify competences of volunteers rather than describe volunteer work. This template will give employers meaningful information on competences of job applicants gained in voluntary work.
Target groups of the project
- volunteers who need a meaningful document about their expertise for entering the paid employment market
- organisations which work with volunteers and have to issue certificates on their activities
- employers who want to learn what kind of expertise job applicants have gained in voluntary environments and tasks
The methodology focuses on bringing together most relevant instruments on one platform and developing instruments for quick access in order to make the best use for volunteers of their gained knowledge in the application stage for paid jobs. Herewith ValCoVol follows experiences with the high number of volunteers working in refugee organisations at the time being: many of them left their jobs to support those organisations and will need meaningful proof of their newly gained qualification for future employment.
Partners of the project
ValCoVol is implemented by an experienced partnership of six education providers, non-profit organisations with a high number of volunteers, and organisations with access to employers’ associations and employment agencies. They comprise expertise and experiences from Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy and the Czech Republic.
- QUALED občianske združenie pre kvalifikáciu a vzdelávanie,
Bratislava / Slovakia, www.qualed.net, jana.butekova@gmail.com
- Kultur und Arbeit e.V., Bad Mergentheim,
Berlin / Germany www.kultur-und-arbeit.de
- E-C-C Verein für interdisziplinäre Bildung und Beratung,
Würnitz / Austria www.e-c-c.at
- INTEGRA INSTITUT, Institut za razvoj clovekovih potentialov,
Velenje / Slovenia www.eu-integra.eu
- KTP – Společnost pro kvalifikaci na trhu práce,
Oslavany / Czeck Republic www.ktp-qualification.eu
- Universitŕ delle LiberEtŕ del Fvg,
Udine / Italy, www.libereta-fvg.it
URL: www.valcovol.eu
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/valcovol
Twitter: #valcovol
