Areas of Volunteer´s Services
Volunteer organizations are those whose activity is based first and foremost on volunteers. These are mainly non-profit organizations often addressing the needs of individuals and members of minorities. Due to their focus and nature they often initiate changes or new trends in the society and promote ethical values. The most significant areas with strong involvement of volunteers and also the strongest response in the society are the following: environmental protection, humanitarian and human rights areas, social and health issues, culture, sports and education.
Social and Health Care
Welfare and health care is one of the most frequently represented not only in terms of volunteer activities, but also as regards provision of a variety of services which in the past decades were only and often insufficiently rendered by the state. A number of NGOs active in this field have step by step become partners to the Government and Parliament of the Czech Republic and in the recent years have been participating also in the discussions on the social policy changes and the nature of provided social services in particular.
In this case the use of volunteers requires professional management, since such volunteers provide psychosocial services and therefore have to be trained to be able to sensitively approach the beneficiaries. Simultaneously the organization needs to be prepared to accept the volunteers and has to have its own in-house co-ordinators of volunteers adequately trained. It is especially in this context that the newly emerging volunteer centers play an irreplaceable role as the source of methodical assistance, training and supervision programmes and promotion of volunteerism in its broadest sense in the society.
Ranking among the best-known organizations working with volunteers are the following: the Czech Catholic Charity, Deaconry establishments, FOKUS, POV- the Prague Organization of Wheelchair Users, numerous establishments for seniors such as Sue Ryder Foundation, Hope, DUHA Society, Life 90, The Committee of Good Will - Olga Havlová Foundation, the New School Foundation, and many others.
Culture
The area of culture comprises a broad portfolio of non-governmental non-profit organizations in which thousands of volunteers are engaged. From the view of the society as a whole the most important are those which focus on the conservation and rehabilitation of cultural monuments, a number of which was badly hit by the lack of interest on the part of the government in the past. Contributing to the rescue of number of them were hundreds of volunteers during workcamps. These organizations usually act on a regional level, subject to local conditions and needs and their activities are often linked to the specific cultural sight - a castle, chateaux, theatre, gallery or museum. Kampanila, for instance, is a civic association for the rescue of architectural monuments in Northern Bohemia, the Association for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage - the Zlenice castle, the Foundation Fund for the Renovation of the Kostelec church in Haná, the Association for the Rescue and Use of Historical Sites Castellum, the Linhart Foundation Prague, the Civic Association Vaňkovka in Brno and CESTA Centre in Tábor. Unijazz organizes art events combining cultural and humanitarian activities - Boskovice Festival is a four-day festival of music, theatre, film screenings, exhibitions focused on the rescue and restoration of the Jewish district in Boskovice.
Sport and Educational Activities
Contrary to the EU countries and the U.S.A. where the volunteers participate to a major degree in the educational process especially of children at primary schools and children with learning and behavioral difficulties. In the Czech Republic volunteerism in these areas is limited to after-school leisure time activities. We draw on the tradition of extra-curriculum hobby groups, sport and hiking groups, which constitute an important component of community life. These activities are performed by children and youth organizations such as Junák - the association of boy and girl scouts of the Czech Republic, Pionýr, YMCA and others. The activities of volunteers in this field assume frequently the nature of mutually beneficial volunteering.
Enviroment protection
Eco-organizations belong to one of the best organized entities operating on a national basis and linked to international networks. They often contribute to the solution of general issues in the society as a political entity, e.g. in matters concerning the transport and environmental state policy, construction of nuclear power plants or town sanitation issues. They co-operate on a voluntary basis with a number of renowned experts; individual issues they address, go beyond boarders of the Czech Republic and are widely covered by mass media, too. The volunteers are used on a one-off as well as long-term basis for doing office work, organization-related matters when various events and campaigns are held, or for field work. These are e.g. DUHA (RAINBOW) Movement, ARNIKA, Děti Země (Children of the Earth), Greenpeace, NESEHnutí, Pražské a jihočeské matky (Prague and South Bohemian Mothers), Český svaz ochránců přírody (The Czech Union of Conservationists), Brontosaurus Movement, GAIA Agency, STUŽ - The Society for Sustainable Life, Tereza.
Humanitarian Organizations
Most of humanitarian organizations and organizations for the protection of human rights were founded after the year 1989 and in the past they came to the limelight predominantly in relation to the assistance provided to areas hit by war conflicts or natural disasters. After the collapse of the Iron Curtain the citizens of the Czech Republic became more aware of the problems existing in the surrounding world and they also got the opportunity to actively step in as volunteers. The Czech volunteers were often among the first to offer humanitarian help in the regions of crisis not only during the conflict, but also in the period of reconstruction of the areas damaged by war or natural disasters. Organizations such as ADRA or People in Need Foundation, the Czech Catholic Charity enjoy worldwide recognition thanks to their prompt assistance.
Apart from assistance provided in areas hit by war conflicts volunteers also help in local events, such as floods in Moravia in 1997 and Bohemia in 2002. During the floods it became apparent, that mere enthusiasm and good will are not enough and that professional management of rescue operations is necessary so that the work of volunteers is as efficient as possible. We believe it is also worth mentioning that it was the non-profit organizations that were among the first to act promptly in the crisis hit regions.
Organizations for the Protection of Human Rights
In the Czech Republic due to the legacy of the previous regime there still is a very low legal and civic awareness and it is very often the case that citizens are aware of their obligations but not that much of their rights. Following the example of organizations operating internationally the non-governmental non-profit organizations have been founded which help individuals but also the whole groups of disadvantaged citizens ?? in the protection of their rights. These are e.g. the Czech Helsinki Committee, HOST - the Movement for Civic Freedom and Tolerance, the emerging network of civic consultancy centers, the Amnesty International or the White Safety Circle??. Active in these organizations are hundreds of volunteers, many of whom are leading and renowned experts in their field.
A number of organized volunteers in our country deal with the issues of ethnic minorities. E.g. A Man in Distress - společnost při TV ?? runs several Romany projects, the Tolerance Society concentrates on educational and cultural activities in particular, HOST focuses on monitoring and a follow-up investigation of racially motivated crimes, the Open Society Fund supports the educational programmes with the participation of ethnic minorities.
The volunteering of humanitarian organizations is also associated with the new phenomenon of refugees. The Czech Republic from which in the past people would only emigrate now becomes a transit country for thousands of refugees. To name just a few humanitarian organizations operating throughout the country let us state the Czech Catholic Charity with its network of establishments, the Czech Red Cross, Deaconry and OPU - the Organization for Assistance to Refugees.
Corporate Volunteers
Corporate Volunteering, which is widely spread and very popular in Western countries, is implemented only with major difficulty in the Czech Republic due to the bad connotations the volunteerism acquired during the period of communism.
There are fledgling steps taken in this area by the companies present in the Czech Republic which are held by a foreign owner or have a foreign partner and a corresponding corporate culture. These include e.g. one-off activities conducted by Chase Manhattan Bank staff, who once a year go and help a selected non-profit organization. Another example of this type is the General Electric Capital Bank (see the article), where apart from the one-off volunteering a pilot project of individual volunteering of the bank's staff in social and health establishments is under way in cooperation with and under the guidance of HESTIA-NVC.
On-line Volunteerism
It is a concept well-known and spread in developed countries in particular, which however thanks to the increasing popularity and usage of internet shall for sure find its place in our region as well. It is an assistance provided by means of internet especially in field of consultancy services, legislation, accounting, translation services and of course Internet related services. The volunteers thus do not even have to leave the chair they are sitting on in order to help non-profit organizations which otherwise could not afford such a service. Many students shall certainly welcome the opportunity of broadening their experience in e.g. the creation of web sites for organizations that e.g. help the handicapped or protect the barn owl. For the virtual volunteerism they, just like the professionals, shall be rewarded by getting an insight in the communities confronted with specific actual problems, which they would otherwise be unaware of.
Worldwide there are foundations like Charity Focus which help create the web sites. This information was given by the Slovak ChangeNet on its web sites focused on volunteerism.
