2.8 Raising awareness about youth volunteering opportunities
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Information providers
According to the National Strategy in Field of Youth Policy 2015-2020 (hereafter: Youth Strategy 2015-2020), the Ministry of Youth and Sports was responsible for implementing the priority on development of young volunteering. However, no clear and concrete task have been established for the Ministry and raising awareness about youth volunteering opportunities was mainly realised through small projects granted by the Ministry and implemented by NGOs.
On the other hand, there are no State-funded national and/or regional volunteer centres or agencies working in Romania.
At local level, in some municipalities, volunteer centres were opened, promoting volunteering at local level and doing matching of volunteers for local institutions. Their work, however, is not systematic.
Key initiatives
Starting in 2020, the Romanian Government, through the General Secretary of the Government promotes the partnership between the public administration and the NGOs for the development of volunteering. It developed the Volunteering Promotion Programme and within this programme drafted and published:
- The list of organizations working with volunteers;
- The analysis of needs for partnership between the public administration and the NGOs;
- A manual of good practices regarding the partnership between local authorities and organizations active in the field of volunteering;
- A manual for local authorities for the development of their volunteering strategies
Moreover, several events have been organised online in 2020 and 2021, and face to face in 2022 within the Volunteering Promotion Programme.
The programme is relevant for youth volunteering, and this is reflected by the fact that about half of the NGOs that contributed to this programme are active in the field of youth. However, the programme is not dedicated / specific to youth volunteering.
Starting in 2002 , ProVobis, (one of) the most active NGO in the field of volunteering, promoted in Romania the concept of the national week of volunteering to be organised and celebrated every year in the third week of May. The concept was embraced by multiple local authorities and got extended visibility after 2020, as the Volunteering Promotion Programme encouraged also local authorities to work more with volunteers.
A public campaign was carried out by the national TV station (TVR) in 2014, during the debates on the Law on Volunteering. As the campaign was made and broadcasted by the national TV station there was no specific target group addressed. The campaign was meant for the general public, but not repeated in the last 10 years (until March 2024).