The International Project Services to Volunteering Europeans (SERVE)

The project, "Every Czech Reads to Kids" and  Lifelong Learning Programme GRUNDTVIG

The collaboration of nine partners from eight different countries (Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, Spain) will draw experience from different types of volunteer services, some with longer traditions, others with less.

 Szépművészeti Múzeum / Museum of Fine Arts, Budapešť, HUNGARY
 Senioruniversitetet i Sveio, Sveio, NORWAY
 Instituto Galego de Consumo, Santiago de Compostela, SPAIN
 Antalya Memurlar Dernegi, Antalya, TURKEY 
 Proacademy, Bratislava, SLOVAKIA
 National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals, Dublin, IRELAND
 Stowarzyszenie Centrum Wolontariatu, Varšava, POLAND

The Learning Partnership aims to combine these various cultural approaches in a constructive and mutually rewarding way. Examining various practices in different cultures will help to introduce good practices that are ready to be used from west to east and north to south. SERVE will also aim to eliminate excuses for maintaining quality differences in European services.  

The Learning Partnership will prove that setting up a volunteer service, or improving an existent one, is more dependent on commitment and international outlook than on money.  International exchanges are necessary to adopt what is best “in the market.”  Therefore, a special emphasis will be placed on showing how important it is to be willing to exchange ideas and engage in a cross cultural learning process.

Each partner has agreed to build a new volunteer service or to further develop an existent one.  While doing so the partners will give a verbal and written account of their day-to-day experiences.  Since the main goal of the Learning Partnership is to increase awareness of the versatility of volunteer services, as well as to help enhance the quality of volunteer management in general, each partner’s account of their own experiences will be essential for the final product which will be a written book in pdf format consisting of 8-9 chapters.  In order to balance out the tasks between partners, each partner will take charge of writing and editing one chapter.  In order to do so, he/she will assemble relevant pieces of information from the consortium members as well as from outside sources.  The partnership will decide on the specific chapter topics at the first Learning Partnership meeting in the coordinator’s country.  The platform for exchanging experiences and the organization of the written accounts will be provided by each partner while hosting a meeting in her/his respective institution.

PHOTOGALLERY ( 2014, 2013)