In 2019 we have completed a project designed to civically activate students from primary schools in Lubuskie Voivodeship. We have noticed that, because of the education reform in Poland and removal of junior high schools, primary schools were faced with a challenge of educating kids about volunteering, a task that was – up to that point – tackled by the newly removed schools. From surveys conducted together with the Lubuskie Federation of NGOs we have learned that the youth from our voivodeship has very little knowledge and skill when it comes to volunteering. We addressed these problems by supporting and promoting existing School Volunteering Groups that emerged in primary schools in Lubuskie Voivodeship. We have invited 12 of those groups to the project (each from a different district) which, together, constituted the Lubuskie network.
We have organized workshops focused on engaging students in organizing events promoting volunteering. We have created “Youth Activity Town” (complete with tents, a sound system, an exhibit and some games), where through different activities we have encouraged young people to activate and start contributing through volunteering. Our activity town was present during all 12 all-day events we have put together, while the accompanying exhibit promoted the individual volunteering school groups taking part in the project. Lubuskie network has conducted a voivodeship-wide campaign focused on activating the youth and encouraged students to celebrate the International Volunteer Day. We created a website with materials on school volunteering – rules for creating School Volunteering Groups, rules pertaining to volunteering, examples of actions and tools used for activating volunteers, etc. As part of the project, we have organized Lubuskie’ School Volunteering Clubs Forum with two panel discussions: “Volunteering and the School Volunteering Clubs,” and “Chaperons for School Volunteering Clubs.” The project was concluded with a gala, during which we have announced to most active School Volunteering Clubs among the participants.
Thanks to our project, we managed to interest schools in engaging in volunteering initiatives and we showed them how they can support their students in these efforts. The materials we have created gave teachers new ideas and encouraged them to include younger students in volunteering, expanding the pool of engaged students. We plan on continuing our collaboration with Lubuskie’ School Volunteering Clubs.