INNOVATIVE VOLUNTEERING MODELS WITH AND FOR YOUTH
8th and 9th February marked the kick-off meeting for the Erasmus+ project INNOVOL. Innovative Volunteering Models with and for Youth. Our initial meeting was held in Novo Mesto, Slovenia. This project connects organizations from 7 EU Member States (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain) and Brazil, and is co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, Key Action 2: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices, Capacity building in the field of youth – ACPALA.
Kick-off meeting was organized by Association for Developing Voluntary Work Novo Mesto as the project leader. The meeting was attended by representatives of all partner organizations: MANDS – Masterandskills srl (Italy), KOMEN – Susan G. Komen Italia Onlus (Italy), WALK TOGETHER (Bulgaria), FUNDACJA AUTOKREACJA (Poland), MPV – De Maos Dadas Pela Vida (Brazil), CREA 360 S.L. (Spain), EILD – European Institute for Local Development (Greece) and the Municipality of PEGEIA (Cyprus).
The meeting started with presentations of all partner organisations and their experience in the area of volunteering. This was followed by detailed overview of the entire project and the individual tasks/responsibilities that were distributed among all partners. There are numerous local and international activities planned for volunteers and youth workers. We agreed on the criteria for selecting the participants of these activities and the ways of monitoring/evaluating the results of the performed activities.
INNOVOL aims at enhancing the management and the participated governance, as well as innovation capacity and internationalisation of NPOs working with and for Youth. The project will deliver an innovative multi-country model for building and reinforcing capacities and skills in NPOs working with/for Youth. Special attention will be given to NEETs and/or marginalized young people who will be involved in learning activities at local and transnational level, according to a participatory and inclusive approach that guides the overall implementation methodology. A lot of attention will be devoted to our Social Media Strategy to better disseminate overall results of the project.

Foto: Mitja Bukovec
Sanja Đurašević