- Sergio Andreis, National Co-ordinator, Associazione per la pace, Italy, and Sue Katz, UK Assistant Director, CSV Volunteering Partners, and Marina DeBartolo, EVS Volunteer
EVS is a European Union initiative which provides a framework for young people between the ages of 18-25 to volunteer in another European country. The two-year pilot phase, lasting until March 1999, is expected to involve around 2,500 young people working in social and environmental action placements for between 6-12 months. The pilot allows for a good deal of flexibility, and a number of different models have been explored. In some cases an individual volunteer may make arrangements with a small organisation in another country which is prepared to accept one volunteer. In other cases, such as ours, bigger organisations work together to help a range of volunteers to go abroad for the volunteering experience. There have been other kinds of models, too, including the opportunity for European volunteers to go to countries outside of the European Union.
CSV and the Italian EVS Technical Assistance Office (TAO), set up by the Associazione per la pace, decided to try a new model of working within EVS, and formed a partnership in1997, as our experience is that transnational partnerships are an effective vehicle for providing young people with the opportunity to volunteer in another country. Because of the strong contact with sending agencies throughout Italy (via the TAO's co-ordination of and support for these agencies) and because of the network of hosting projects which CSV has built up over 30 years of working with young volunteers, we were able to facilitate opportunities for 70 Italian volunteers to come to the UK to work in social care projects within just a few months of concluding our agreement. The young Italian volunteers help many different groups in the UK - young people in trouble with the police, people with disabilities in their homes, women who have escaped domestic violence by going to women's refuges, children in special needs schools, people with mental health problems in their group homes, homeless people at hostels, and elderly people in day centres.
The benefits of working within partnerships are many. Both partners are able to plan ahead and are therefore sure that they can deliver on their promises to young volunteers. The partners build up a good relationship and because they are co-operating together, the young people receive a better service. The two agencies are able to bring their own skills and knowledge to the work, which enriches the work. For example, the Italians understood how EVS operates and CSV had long experience of transnational volunteering. And finally, with a strong relationship based on co-operation, the partners can ensure continuity, they can more easily solve the problems which are sure to arise and they are able to operate more flexibly. For instance, if a project breaks down in the UK, the volunteer does not just have to go home feeling that they have failed. CSV is able to move them into another suitable project.
There have been further benefits. EVS itself has gained by demonstrating an important operating model and learning from the past experience of the partners. Italy has gained by being able to plan and predict its work across the country. This gives the sending agencies a chance to effectively prepare the volunteers for the transnational experience. CSV has gained by having the chance to work within the European initiative and by finding additional countries with whom to build partnerships.
Partnerships need to be based on mutual benefit. That means that everyone involved has to get something out of the arrangement. One of the problems in a scheme like EVS is that single projects often find participation very difficult. The funding only covers half of the costs and single projects do not necessarily have the resources, expertise or past experience in supporting a volunteer from overseas. In the case of social care settings where the volunteer is helping dependent or vulnerable people, a language barrier can limit the effectiveness of the help that the volunteer wants to offer. When the volunteers themselves are disadvantaged, a small project may find it challenging to provide extra supervision and support if necessary.
Partnerships work best if the partners share the same values. Since there are already cultural differences among the countries, it is important that the same goals and beliefs underpin their work together. In our case, both of our agencies believe that young people and communities benefit greatly from volunteering. We both are committed to the idea that transnational exchanges throughout the EU help young people develop a sense of being European and help break down prejudices and stereotypes. As experienced volunteering professionals, both of our agencies have massive evidence that volunteering is an effective vehicle for both personal growth and transnational learning. The diversity fostered by EVS brings a richness to the initiative. Everyone involved - from the volunteers to the hosting and sending agencies to the clients being helped by the volunteers - learns from each other.
Volunteers receive many benefits from their experience: improved self confidence, work skills, life skills and language skills, independence, new challenges, a good support structure, new friends, the feeling that their contribution is highly valued, and a very stimulating and enjoyable introduction to a new culture (from a contribution to the presentation by Marina DeBartolo, a young Italian EVS volunteer who is working in a placement in a special needs school in the UK, and is very enthusiastic about her experience with the EVS and, specifically, this particular transnational partnership).
All over Europe, participants in EVS are learning that appropriate administrative processes and good support contribute to successful voluntary placements. Administrative systems should be kept to a minimum and this is something that is being reviewed and evaluated within EVS. The only necessary systems are the ones which ensure that everyone has all the information that they need in order to achieve success: the volunteer needs to know where they are going and what they will be doing; the hosting project needs to know who is coming and what they can do; and the partner agencies need to be able to monitor that everything is progressing well. European programmes tend to generate a lot of paperwork. To ensure sustainability, people should not be asked to fill out masses of forms which no one will read and which contribute nothing to the quality of the volunteering experience. There has been quite a bit of confusion around financial matters also. Payments have been late. Budget templates have been developed that suit some models but don't suit others. The level of financial monitoring and reporting can put too much of a burden on under-funding overworked agencies which want to participate in EVS.
EVS is allowing non-profit organisations throughout Europe to build relationships and support each others' development. This is one of the many added values of transnational volunteering. EVS volunteers become active citizens from an early age. The only thing better than an European transnational volunteering initiative might be a Global Voluntary Service!
4th
Global conference on national youth service (1998) 
