Thank you for your interest in volunteering. We really appreciate volunteers who help us working with clients and are interested in refugee issues. We can offer you cooperation in two programmes and the possibility to participate in helping refugees through material aid.
The first programme is SITE VISITS - one-day visits of a group of experts to integration asylum residence centres. Site visits usually take place once every two months, led by a volunteer coordinator.
Volunteers prepare programmes for the clients of integration asylum residence centres (in Brno, Jaroměř, Ústí nad Labem and Havířov). This typically involves organising sports, handiworks and trips.
The other opportunity for volunteer activities is MENTORING. This means regular meetings between a volunteer and a refugee. This partnership is made with the purpose of helping the refugee to integrate and communicate better in Czech and introducing the Czech society to them in a natural way. The way of working together and getting to know the new environment depends on an arrangement between each specific pair and can take various forms: having a cup of coffee, walking together, teaching Czech, helping out with school subjects, seeing exhibits, concerts, theatre shows or sport matches, accompanying when dealing with authorities etc. The basic principles are regularity (at least once a week) and long-term perspective (at least six months). The communication language is Czech or English, French, Arabic and Spanish.
The third option for helping is DONATION - providing material aid for refugees. This mostly means providing clothes and shoes, hygiene needs, toys and items for children, school aids etc. The current list of items that our clients need is available HERE.
Our volunteer project is coordinated by Organizace pro pomoc uprchlíkům (OPU) and is also accredited by the Czech Ministry of the Interior, which determines rights as well as obligations for volunteers. While serving for the OPU, volunteers are covered by liability insurance free of charge and they also receive the initial instruction on issues regarding foreign nationals/refugees. For their part, volunteers are obligated to take supervision sessions (approximately once every two months) led by an experienced psychologist. People interested in volunteering must complete the prospective volunteer form, submit their certificate from the criminal register and regularly report their volunteering activities (primarily as part of mentoring). During the year there are optional training sessions for volunteers, lectures by experts on topics related to migration and refugee matters, and many other interesting events. Of course, all of this is free for volunteers.
If you are still interested, please complete the introductory form; we will then contact you and arrange for a meeting in person.
The initial form serves to give us the basic information about your possibilities and skills, motivation for working with refugees, knowledge and experience. The questionnaire is somewhat extensive specifically with a view to giving us a deeper understanding of you and the activities that you might be involved in. To access the questionnaire you need to register first - please register using the button below.
Should you have any questions regarding the questionnaire or volunteering as such, do not hesitate to contact us at info@idobrovolnik.cz.
We thank you for your help and we are looking forward to our future cooperation.
iDobrovolnik.cz