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The history of the volunteering

The concept of volunteering was born after the First World War, as an answer to the horrors of the war and as an alternate solution to the compulsory military service. The spiritual father of the volunteering is considered to be

the German historian and sociologist Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy. He proposed the establishment of the Volunteering Service for Peace.

In 1920 the Swiss Pierre Ceresole founded the International Civil Service(ICS), which had as its

main purpose the setting up of volunteering working camps for the after – war

reconstruction.

In the same period, in India, Mahatma Ghandi initiated many volunteering actions for peace, in which international volunteers

teams have been involved.

An important number of volunteering organizations have developed among the two World Wars. These organizations wanted to tighten the friendship relations among the teenagers from different European countries. Another declared goal was that of

helping the states that were suffering because of the economic crisis in 1929.

After the Second World War, a series of ample volunteering actions, which had as a purpose the reconstruction of Europe

after the war have grown .The emancipation of the old colonies from the other continents,

from Asia, Africa and Latin America, has stimulated the developing of the volunteering in these areas. In the sixties, the

necessity of assisting of the developing countries has inaugurated the volunteering as a long term practice, officially confirmed in1970, year in which The Volunteering Programme

of the United Nations has been inaugurated.

Nowadays, volunteering has become a compulsory practice among all the developed societies, and, of course, in Romania.

Who practices volunteering in Romania?

In Romania, volunteering has reborn after 1989, along with the arrival of the first international volunteers through organizations as Peace Corps and Voluntary Service Overseas. Later, well – known international organizations (World Vision, Habitat for Humanity) have created branches in Romania bringing experience and expertise in the management of the volunteers.

• In 1997 the first two volunteering centers are created in Romania as departments in the Humanitarian Association Pro Vobis Cluj-Napoca and the ACTIV Association (Botosani).

• In 1999, with the help of the Open Society Foundation from Timisoara, two other volunteering centers are constituted.

Volunteering has become to be stronger when the organizations started to develop local centers of volunteering. These are the link between those

persons interested in the volunteering activities and the needs of the community.

Starting 2000, we celebrate in Romania the International Volunteering Day, on the 5th December.

The year 2001 was a turning point in the developing of the volunteering movement in Romania. This is the year when the Law 195/2001- the Volunteering Law was adopted, modified later in 2002 and 2006. In 2001 was also originated the portal www.voluntariat.ro and the magazine Voluntariat.ro.

In 2002, new volunteering centers in over 10 important cities from Romania are constituted.

In the year 2007 the national campaign for promoting the volunteering “It`‘s time to be different!“ was originated. Currently, the National Network of Volunteering Centers has 14 active members, and the number of the organizations is growing.However, the statistics regarding the volunteering is not clear. A digit dating back from 2007 (the source: the Public Opinion barometer) indicates a percentage of 14,4 volunteers from the population over 18 years in Romania. Nevertheless , the volunteering involving is very present among the young including those over 18 years old.

Following, a classification of the types of volunteering:• individual or grouping (including family);• on their own or corporate;• national or international

Individual vs corporate

Volunteering on one’s own – it assumes the involvement of the individual in his / her free time in activities that one looks for by him / herself and in which the company is not involved.Corporate volunteering – it represents any effort of the company / firm (or of any other employer – public institution or non profit organization) to encourage and help the employers or ex - employers now retired to involve in volunteering actions in the projects of CSR of the company which have as a goal the involving in the community. The help granted by the company consists in bearing the costs of the volunteering actions.The corporate volunteering characterizes the middle and big size companies, which have to face three big challenges: •The employers have limited time to get involved;• they have to identify the right volunteering programmes;• they have to identify those ONG that can receive volunteers.

DEFINITIONS OF VOLUNTEERING

•Volunteering is the activity developed from one’s own innitiative, by any individual, in the benefit of the others, without receiving a material reward.

Definition adopted by the National Council of Volunteering, June 2002)

Volunteering is the activity of public interest developed by individuals, named volunteers, in some judicial reports, others than the judicial report of work and the judicial civil report of doing a paid activity.

Volunteering law in Romania

DEFINITIONS OF VOLUNTEERING

•Volunteering is the activity developed by one’s own initiative , through which an individual offers his time, talent and energy to support the others, without a financial reward, but that can discount the expenses made to support the project in which he / she is involved. (Pro Vobis definition) •Any action taken by a person without thinking of financial rewards. (Tracker)•Any work made by a person without constraint with the intention of helping and without thinking of a immediate financial winning." (Scheier) •“The impulse of being oriented towards the satisfying the needs of the others without thinking of financial rewards." (Manover)

If you are young: you can build an attractive CV, so as to be able to answer to announces as: “we hire persons under 25, with 7 years of experience...". You can test a possible career, , be in touch with people that could help you later in the future. You can create a community in which to enjoy living ten more years. You can do something useful with the energy and feelings of this particular age. And last, but not least, you can make new friends. If you are at the elderly age: you have the possibility of not losing your life experience along with your retiring time. To fill the empty space left by the leaving of your children, by the loss of those surrounding you. An opportunity to regain your pride and satisfaction of being useful.you can prove that being elderly doesn’t mean being a burden, but an irreplaceable resource for the society.If you are a child: it’s fun to do good things with your friends. You can mould strong skills. Having well organized your spare time you are safer regarding drugs, smoking, alcohol, etc. and thus having the chance of becoming a more responsible adult and implicitly of changing for the better the surrounding world. Besides, volunteering is a very good way of making new friends.

Why volunteering?

If you have a disability: you have the chance to prove that you have an important role and place important in the community. You can mould skills and create relationships that can help you overcome the stereotypes and prejudices, and so you can find a working place that can help you have a more decent living, more confidence in yourself. If you are unemployed: staying home you will definitely not find your ideal job. Getting yourself involved in volunteering activities you have the chance to store new experiences, to gain new abilities. You can make some relations that could lead you to the job you wanted. You have the opportunity of not losing the contact with work.If you are employed: getting involved in a volunteering activity you can break the everyday monotony home – work – back home. You can test a new career. You can revive old hobbies or activities. You can prove to the community that the institution / company / organization you are working for is interested in the fate of the community. If you are a family: you can spend more time together, and the involvement in volunteering activities brings people together. You can be a positive example for your children. You can express your gratitude that fate brought you together or you can create a family tradition that can bring fulfillment to all of you .To anybody: “As if we want to live in a better world we must contribute to its making. To be the change we want in the world." (Mahatma Ghandi).

There are many reasons to be a volunteer. By getting involved in volunteering actions:•You can gain experience, skills and knowledge for getting a job (or a better job);•You can test a new career (because “it’s not working anymore”, or because it’s something you have always wanted to do and you couldn’t do it by now);•You can value your unused knowledge and skills; •You can make new friends or spent more time with the ones you already have, getting involved in a common passion or cause; •You can spend quality time with your family, and educate your children in the spirit of involving in the community;•You can show your gratitude towards the support that you have received in your turn, or you can honour the memory of someone dear who either was involved in a cause, or has profited by the services of an organization) •You can develop a network of personal or professional relationships.

Why being a volunteer?

•You can have fun, but also have a feeling of internal satisfaction; you can feel useful and take advantage of your time (avoiding wasting it);•You can contribute to preventing or solving a problem;•You can affiliate to a well – known organization and get into contact with important personalities; •You can underline an important moment in your life, a change you wish for; •You can have the satisfaction of having achieved something, of getting something to the end, of having an impact; •You can accomplish something significant, you can be proud of; •You can be part of a team, develop your team-work skills, test your leader qualities;•You can better understand the problems that your community or the society in general is dealing with; to discover the implications of some problems that you were unfamiliar with; •You can, eventually, become better.

Domains in which volunteers are involvedSocial•Counseling and informing on various themes; •Tutoring students having problems; •Campaigns on basis regarding the organizations’ profile(child’s rights, preventing AIDS, etc.); •Preparing and giving parcels for the organizations’ beneficiaries (e. g.food, clothing items). Ecological•Cleaning the parks or playing areas for the children; •Campaigns to promote the recycling of some materials; •Guide at the botanical garden for the students; •Classes about the importance of protecting the environment. Civic •Raising signatures for different initiatives; •Promoting the principles of democracy in the society;•Sending letters to support some initiatives; •Announcing any abuses or frauds .

Executory (available for all above categories) •Typing materials, making publications, web pages; •Translating; •Realizing the summary of the main news; •Secretariate , fotocopying, recording,etc.; •PR activities inside the reception; •Organizing events.

Volunteering statistics

The statistics regarding volunteering are not very clear. One back from 2007(the source: the Public Opinion barometer) indicates a percentage of 14,4 volunteers from over 18 year olds Romanians. However, the young are getting more and more involved, including those under 18.A study among young people between 18 and 35 shows that the percentage grew from 13 % in 2004 ( in a Gallup sampling) to 29% in 2010 (a GfK study). From those who had never been volunteers, 33% were interested to work in the use of the community in 2004, respectively 35% in 2010.A study of the MoreGreen organization shows that if in 2004 only 8% from the young people included in the sampling were mentioning the protection of the environment among the causes they were volunteers, in 2010, the environment projects got involved 51% of the young volunteers.

The most well – known ecologist organizations are: Greenpeace (29%), MoreGreen (7%) and Save the Danube Delta (5%). From the environment projects, the biggest part of the young people could mention “The Country of Andrei”, a project of Petrom company(14%), trees planting (5%) and “Let’s do it, Romania”, an independent company.(5%).

Volunteering has been the soul of the International Movement of the Red Cross ever since its foundation, in 1863. volunteers are today, as they have always been,the backbone of all the Red Cross activities, helping the National Society to unroll success programmes and to help thousands of vulnerable persons who are in difficulty.The Romanian Red Cross take advantage of the help of over 10000 volunteers, from which 40% are young.

Between 1996-2010 a series of researches have indicated involving percentages between 8% and 33%; the variations can be explained either through the different methodologies of collecting the dates, or through the misunderstandings regarding the types of activities which can be regards as volunteering.

The most recent dates are from 2010 and have close values. The study of the Foundation for the Development of the Civil Society „Romania 2010. the Nongovernmental Sector: profile, tendencies, challenges” indicates, at page 86 a percentage of 18,1 volunteers (made – up from 13,1% church and community volunteering and 3% nongovernmental volunteering), while the Eurobarometre Standard no. 73 indicates for Romania a percentage of 20% volunteers, posting Romania in the category of the countries from European Union with a low involving level, under the European average.

The situation in Romania regarding the involvement of the retired persons in volunteering activities is not at the level of any other country from various reasons. On one side, it’s the much bigger influence that patriotic work has had on that age category and which has a very different representation on volunteering. On the other side, the majority of the volunteering offers available in Romania are addressed more to the young people through the skills required (the most volunteering opportunities presume knowledge in using the PC or foreign languages), demands which remove from the beginning a category of potential volunteers, among which the elderly people.

Another reason is the lack of information. Most of the volunteering opportunities are e-promoted, and for this reason they get to the young people quicker and to the retired ones harder.

Nongovernmental active organizations are those who use volunteering at a high rank, from the approximately 21000 active organizations, 90% having declared that they imply volunteers in their activity and 68% function without any employed, only with the help of the volunteers. More than half of the nongovernmental organizations’ leaders in Romania say that they have enough volunteers and that they come by themselves to the organization, and 3,3% mention that they can’t offer opportunities to all of those who wish to become volunteers, thus showing a structural weakness of the sector, which has not got the capacity to immerse the volunteering demand by offering a sufficient number of organized involving opportunities. A wrong gathering of the facts regarding the dimension and the dynamic of the volunteering movement in Romania is the main reason that prevents us to have a very clear image regarding the number of the volunteers and the value of their work.

Some documents show that, until now, at the level of the county, 150- 200 ONGs have been recorded that have worked with volunteers, but they have never all been functional at the same time. Now, according to the participation to the first Tulcea Volunteering Gala we know that there are 19 active ONGs which use volunteers in various domains . We don’t know the exact number of volunteers because it differs from one activity to another . We can approximate the number of the volunteers in Tulcea county at 800-1000 persoans. The oldest volunteers from the county are those from the Red Cross. The second as seniority in this domain is the teacher Claudia Iosifescu who organizes activities in this domain, related to the environment, before 1989. she is the one who founded in 1991 the first groups of Scouts in Tulcea; after the scouts have evolved, she involved in the environment problems.

Volunteering in Tulcea county

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•EUdivers Center •The County Youth Foundation Tulcea •Etnopolis – The association for promoting the multiculturalism•Romanian Red Cross - Tulcea •The Humanitarian Association NOROC (Luck)Tulcea •The National Organization for Romanian Scouts – Local Center Lotus •Social Assistance and Child Protection Tulcea •Social Assistance and Protection Tulcea •Eco-Museum Institute of Research Tulcea •Informing, Consultancy and Promoting – Center for the gypsies Tulcea •DINCOLO DE APARENŢE Association•The Organization for Social and Executory Development •the Association of the Christians Students in Romania- Tulcea• the Humanitarian Association Pro Eternitatea •The Center of Informing and Education in the Management of Offal and the Environment Protection •The County Library PANAIT CERNA from Tulcea •Volunteering Local Centre Tulcea• Outspread Hands Association• the Danube Delta Reservation •The Environment Protection

The list of the ONGs from Tulcea which work with volunteers