Participation of Youth in Volunteer Programs of the European Union
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29038/2306-3971-2017-02-32-39Keywords:
volunteer participation, an experience of participation, the motivational factors, online questionnaire, European Voluntary Service (EVS)Abstract
Research of the experience of participation of youth in the European Volunteer Service (part of the «Erasmus +: Youth in Action» program) is based on the results of the online questionnaire among volunteers which took part in EVS in 2016–2017 years (N = 175; Δ ≤ 0,065; the reach of the respondents was 0,46; data collection is November 2017; the sample is representative of the gender). According to the analysis, women are more active participants than men (61 and 39 %). Also, the most active participants are young people under age 22–25 (55 %); among Ukrainian volunteers, this indicator is 87,5 %. Students of higher educational institutions (37,3 %), full-time employees (20 %), part-time (14,7 %) and trainees (10,7 %) are dominant in social status. The largest number of the volunteers is from Turkey (22,7 %), Ukraine (10,7 %), Georgia (9,3 %) and Russia (9,3 %). Fewer participants are from Portugal (6,7 %), Estonia (5,3 %), Spain (5,3 %) and others. The largest number of the volunteers is from Turkey (22,7 %), Ukraine (10,7 %), Georgia (9,3 %) and Russia (9,3 %). Fewer participants are from Portugal (6,7 %), Estonia (5,3 %), Spain (5,3 %) and others. There are statistically significant differences in the socio-demographic structure of volunteers from different countries. The main sources of information about international volunteer programs and their opportunities are friends / relatives (33,3 %) and social networks (29,3 %) The main motivating factors for participating in EVS are: «the desire to get a new, specific experience» – 52 %, and «explore new cultures and lifestyles» – 50,6 %. Considering the previous experience of participators (64 %), the expectations of volunteers from the program were confirmed (80 %); and 88 % of participants were satisfied with their activities during EVS, also many volunteers (88 %) would like to continue this activity. The high level of satisfaction is evidence of the effectiveness of the EVS and Erasmus + Youth in Action programs in general since the first and foremost goal of these programs is the training and development of the volunteers themselves.
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Copyright (c) 2018 Olga Koretska
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