About the project

Professional Volunteering (ProVol) is a partnership consisting of partner organisations from different European countries. Our aim is to professionalise volunteering by developing an accessible, flexible and sustainable European model for the training of volunteer coordinators and volunteers. We want to improve the effectiveness of volunteering and the quality of the services provided. To this end, we have implemented several projects since 2015:

Professional Volunteering (ProVol) was a European partnership between Gemeinsam leben & lernen in Europa e.V. (GLL) (Germany), Volunteering Matters (Great Britain), Centrul de Volontariat Cluj-Napoca (Romania), and Dobrovolnické centrum Ustí Nad Labem (Czech Republic) running from 2014 to 2016. Under the coordination of “Gemeinsam leben & lernen in Europa,” an accessible, flexible, and sustainable European model for the training of coordinators and volunteers was developed to improve the effectiveness of volunteer work and the quality of the services provided. The result is a training plan and a handbook for both groups.

In 2016, the project continued under the name “Professional Volunteering Crossborder.” The aim was to improve and disseminate the existing training. The ProVol training was transferred to Slovakia by Dobrovolnické centrum (Czech Republic) in collaboration with Centrum Dobrovolnictva Banská Bystrica (Slovakia) and to Austria by Gemeinsam leben & lernen in Europa in collaboration with eb projektmanagement (Austria). To facilitate the training of refugees, migrants with limited language skills, and people with learning and intellectual disabilities, the German and Czech partners developed a simplified language version of the training.

From 2018 to 2020, the international project “Improve” was implemented, focusing on inclusive volunteer work and developing an initial draft of the training in simple language for people with intellectual disabilities. This involved a Czech partner and two expert groups from Austria and Portugal.

Between 2021 and 2024, the project “Improve 2.0” is being continued with partners from the Czech Republic, Italy, and Lithuania to expand the training in simple language to Italy and Lithuania.

From 2022 to 2024, the international project “ProVol Digital” is running, which includes the development of the training as an online course, additional training on digitization in volunteering, and the use of digital tools in volunteer work. Additionally, a ProVol network is being established.

ProVol is funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Commission.