PROJECT PROPOSAL“Empowering DINAMO”

Seeking a methodology to strengthen, coach and evaluate volunteer instructors and subject matter experts.

1Introducing DINAMO

‘DINAMO’ organizes education for adults during the day and on Monday evenings. Remarkably, all of our courses, workshops and outings are given or led by volunteer experts and instructors.

Ten professional team members (equivalent to seven full-time positions) direct 230 volunteers who deliver and lead some400 activities per year. The average participant enrolls in about 2.3 activities, which means DINAMO counts about 6,000 enrollments per year.

This makes DINAMO the largest provider of personal growth and development in, as well as being a sustainable source of volunteer work and networking opportunities for all.

DINAMO is an independent non-profit organisation housed in the Cultuurhuis de Warande in Turnhout, Belgium.

2Project Proposal: ‘Empowering DINAMO’

DINAMO is looking for pan-European partners to exchange and develop expertise and best practices with, so we can provide better direction and support of our 230 volunteers. We want to find methodologies that will help us strengthen, coach and give positive feedback to our instructors and guides in their work for our organization.

The volunteers’ tasks are very diverse. Some give theoretical lessons (languages, art history, readings about a specific topic), while others give workshops (drawing and painting, sewing, cooking). Some plan and lead walks, bike ridesand day trips, as well as longer journeys. Still others host the coffee breaks.

The profile of our volunteer instructors and leaders is likewise diverse. Some present occasional offerings based on a very specific topic, profession or hobby; others have been teaching or leading their whole lives. Some are (young) pensioners, while others use this path to return to normal life after burn-outs, being made redundant or arriving as refugees.

Not all volunteers havethe experience in teaching needed to perform with confidence. They often ask us for more support, often about their teaching methods. We believe even experienced instructors can also benefit from exposure to new methodologies and multimedia tools, so they too can continue to grow.

The colleagues in our professional team also seekeducational expertise so they can guide their volunteers more effectively. Beyond that, they seek tools to help them to better coach and evaluate in low-threshold, positive ways. With such tools, they can help our volunteers become more professional instructors and leaders, which can potentially prepare them to develop further for entry in the workplace, where evaluation and assessment are part of every job.

DINAMO is looking for answers for following questions:

  • Which educational skills and abilities are essential for volunteer instructors and guides at DINAMO, and how can we guide and support them in this regard?
  • How can you coach and evaluate volunteers in a non-threatening, effective and motivating way, considering their volunteer status?
  • How can we develop our develop our organization’s policies and vision regarding coaching, teaching and developing volunteers?
  • What tools and techniques can our professional team learn and use to accomplish our goals for volunteers?

3Why Is This a European Project?

Volunteers make the difference! Roughly 100 million Europeans volunteer to deliver important contributions to our community today. DINAMO is thus not the only organization that works with so many volunteers, and the expectation is that their involvement will increase. With help and means from European partners, we can spread the impact of our project’s goals to other volunteer organisations in Europe.

The instruments that this project hopes to develop will be easy to implement and evaluate. They will also be appropriate forinstructors based in trade schools and art academies such as we have in Flanders (e.g., Syntra, Centrum voor Volwassenden Onderwijs (Center for Adult Education)). After all, these teachers are recruited because of their professional expertise and skills, and often have no pedagogical certifications.

In volunteer work we see an evolution happening, with the focus moving from organizing volunteers to the effective coaching and integrating of volunteer workers. Each talent is in the right place, and where possible, new talent is awakened or existing talent realizes its full potential. That way you develop volunteers who know and share their strengths.

This is whyDINAMO is looking for pan-European partners to exchange expertise and best practices with and provide better direction and support of our volunteers. We can share experience and develop together, with an eye toward strengthening people’s talents in the world of volunteers.

Bieke Suykerbuyk, coördinator DINAMO

DINAMO vzw

de Warande Turnhout Warandestraat 42

2300 Turnhout

België

0032 47 21 60

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