2.6 Quality assurance
Quality in management and promotion of volunteering has to be linked to the own actions carried out by volunteers in associations. This action must be regulated by the very functioning regulations of the entities based in democratic principles, as well as complying with rights and responsibilities legally recognised (recognition, identification, information…) in the Law 45/2015. In the same law the public administrations compromise to support de volunteer organizations in the training of the volunteer to ensure its quality and accordance to the personal preferences of the volunteer. Finally, the Law 45/2015 establishes for the recipients of the voluntary action that those activities shall be developed according to programs that guarantee the quality of the performances of the volunteers.
Then there are sector specific tools. These are characterised by their specific scope on NGOs: on the one hand there is the standard “Quality NGO”, promoted by the Ministry of Inclusion,
Social Security and Migration (Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones) and oriented towards Social Action NGOs; on the other, quality standards for humanitarian organisations: Proyecto Esfera and Compas Qualité; and last UNE 165011 granting the necessary requirements for an ethical management. There are also ad-hoc tools for NGDO. This standard type is specific for the qualification process as NGDO elaborated by AECID. The Institute for NGO Quality (ICONG) carries out certifications through the NGO Quality Standard, which is recognised by the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030.
At European level, on 23-24 January 2023, delegations from six EU countries met in Madrid to participate in the European Quality Standards in Validation of Apprenticeship through Volunteering project. The objective was to define and promote criteria for assessing the quality in verifying the learning outcomes of volunteers in Europe.