Current activities

2010 May -  Final meeting of project partners
Representatives of the eight project partners met in London on 3-4 May for discussing the common activities realised since September 2008 and the results of the Learning Partnership. Inter alia, reports and questionnaires of volunteers where analyzed in the course of the project evaluation. Main project outcomes of the running Learning Partnership will be presented on the EUROPARC Federation Conference in September 2010 (Italy). Because of the good experiences during the past 1,5 years and the positive project outcomes, all partners have already decided to apply for "Multilateral Project" funding in the Lifelong Learning Programme/Grundtvig (2010-13).

2009 October -  Third workshop for volunteer coordinators
For the third time volunteer coordinators from eight European countries met for exchanging experiences and knowlegde in the framework of GRUNDTVIG Learning partnership. 26 participants attended the workshop in the Gauja National Park in Latvia. Many of them told that the volunteer exchange (see below) is started well. They appriciated that volunteers and they themselves have been given the chance to get many new impressions and views in the framework of this project.
The workshop was enriched by nature excursions, interesting lectures about nature protection and volunteering in Latvia as well as practical volunteer activities in the Gauja National Park.

2009 summer - Volunteer's Exchange started
One of the main goals of Learning Partnership "European volunteers in parks" is exchanging volunteers. The GRUNDTVIG partners can send volunteers, who have got involved with parks or institutions of their home country, to a foreign partner-park. The parks and institutions have offered a wide variety of short-term volunteering opportunities for foreign volunteers for one or more weeks. Some of volunteers meanwhile are back, full of impressions and new experience. This exchange will ends 2010 in July. 

2009 April - 2nd workshop for volunteer coordinators
Within the framework of the project “GRUNDTVIG Learning Partnership - European Volunteers in Parks”, Federparchi-EUROPARC Italia and Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park organized the II international Workshop for Volunteer Coordinators in April. The project encourages volunteering in Protected Areas, sharing good practice and the creation of a European network. 23 participants from 8 European countries attended the workshop, which aimed to analyse and compare different volunteer programs and experiences in Europe. Many interesting topics were discussed including: how to select volunteers for specific or difficult tasks; how to involve international volunteers, considering linguistic differences; how to manage possible conflicts between volunteers and park staff or public; how to work with young people and schools. The discussion highlighted the diversity and various priorities of volunteer programs in different countries and some cultural difficulties were also illustrated. Part of the workshop was dedicated to practical activities including getting to know the Abruzzo Park’s voluntary programme, which is the oldest and most organised programme in Italy. More information 

2009 January - Website “European volunteers in parks” online
The new website, created for the Learning Partnership “European volunteers in parks”, is online! On these pages we will inform you about our common work and the results of the partnership. All project partners, volunteer coordinators and volunteers involved in the project are very welcome to present and share experiences, reports, photos…

2008 November - 1st workshop for volunteer coordinators
More than twenty participants from eight European countries spent four days together in the Flusslandschaft Elbe-Brandenburg Biosphere Reserve, Germany. From 26-30 November the “hot” topic was “European volunteers in parks” – a theme that was discussed intensively by experienced volunteer coordinators of protected areas as well as by newcomers attending the event. The questions that were looked at were: What are the tasks and skills of volunteer coordinators? How does the role of volunteering differ in individual European countries? What do we want to achieve in our common work concerning promoting volunteers in parks on European level?
The workshop in Germany was the first of three international workshops addressing volunteer coordinators in protected areas.