Volunteer School is an educational project aimed at developing and strengthening the social competencies of young scientists, the importance of tolerance, diversity and inclusiveness, as well as the development of volunteering. The aim of the project was to develop and implement a training program for young scientists who want to join important volunteer projects. This volunteer program for youth centers was implemented by the Council of Young Scientists at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine in partnership with the NGO “Laboratory of Initiative Youth”, the NGO “International Development Foundation” with the support of the British Embassy in Ukraine under the “Active Citizens” Program of the British Council in Ukraine.
The School program included seven practical trainings from leading scientists, coaches and facilitators of Ukraine, individual consultations on the basics of project activities and volunteering, which covered legislative, organizational, social, psychological aspects of volunteering as well as volunteering activity, culture of volunteering along with active citizenship, basics of effective communication and social responsibility.
National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic” was represented by Head of the Council of Young Scientists of the Faculty of Humanities, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Anna Pavelieva who attended 7 trainings, took an active part in the development and presentation of her own social project and received a certificate of professional development of 30 hours (1 ECTS credit).
Young scientists from different parts of Ukraine studied according to the following program:
Day 1: January 19 at 17.00 training on the topic: “Fundamentals of volunteering. Legislative and regulatory aspects of volunteering. Culture of volunteering and active citizenship” (coach Olha Rohovska). The participants traveled to the metropolis “Goldvol City” and completed 6 interesting missions:
- 1 Mission. “Goldvol City Government”. Regulatory framework for volunteering in Ukraine.
- 2 Mission. “Dipcorps”. The main directions and practices of volunteer work in the world.
- 3 Mission. “City Garden”. Is Volunteering a Duty or a Vocation?
- 4 Mission. “Fire station”. Myths and legends of the volunteer mission.
- 5 Mission. “Cult”. Motivation and ethical principles of volunteering.
- 6 Mission. “Runway”. A portfolio of success stories and personal opportunities.
Day 2: January 20, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – training on the topic: “Leadership and leadership qualities in volunteering. Development of soft skills” (coach Liudmyla Ponomarova, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language and Slavic Philology at Pre-Azov State Technical University, Academician of the ICA, Deputy Chairman of the Methodical Council, Head of the Commission for Assessing the Quality of Pedagogical Skills, coach of educational projects, facilitator).
Day 3: January 21, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – training on the topic: “Communicative competence. Fundamentals of Effective Communication of Volunteers” (coach Liudmyla Pidkuimukha, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Ukrainian Language at NaUKMA, guest lecturer at Jagiellonian University (2021–2022), L. Kirkland Scholar (2021–2022), member of the Young Scientists Council at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine). Her research interests include sociolinguistics, urban linguistics, media and communications. Life credo: Amat victoria curam – “Victory loves those prepared”.
Day 4: January 22, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – training on the topic: “Social Responsibility and Volunteering” (coach Oleksandra Mandych, Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Department of Marketing and Media Communications, Head of Media Communications Department, Head of the Council of Young Scientists of the State Biotechnology University, Head of the Council of Young Scientists at Kharkiv Regional State Administration, member of the Council of the Northeastern Research Center of the NAS of Ukraine and MES of Ukraine, member of the Council of Young Scientists of the Northeastern Research Center of the NAS of Ukraine and MES of Ukraine, associate member of the Council of Young Scientists at MES of Ukraine).
Day 5: January 26, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – training on the topic: “Project Design and Project Management” (coach Yevheniia Polishchuk, Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Department of Corporate Finance and Controlling of the Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Deputy Head of the Council of Young Scientists at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, UNDP expert, GIZ project manager, UNDP, MES, etc., Chairman of the Board of the NGO “Center for Applied Research “SMART”, blogger-consultant on personal finance).
During the trainings, participants concidered the basic concepts of effective project design and project management, life cycle and project participants, project team management, communication with the client, project control and its closure.
Day 6: January 27, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – training on the topic: “Planning social action and its implementation in the community” (coach Anastasiia Simakhova, Doctor of Economics, Professor of the Department of Business Analytics and Digital Economics at the National Aviation University, First Deputy Head of the Council of Young Scientists at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the NGO “Innovative University”). Research interests: social economy, globalization, socialization of the economy, innovation and investment development, digitalization.
Day 7: January 28, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – training on the topic: “Social initiatives and basics of project activities” (coach and expert Andrii Khorolskyi, Candidate of Technical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Head of the Council of Young Scientists of the Institute of Mining Physics of NAS of Ukraine, Secretary of the Council of Young Scientists at the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, Secretary of the Council of Young Scientists of the Department of Physics and Astronomy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, coach, facilitator, public figure, blogger, project manager). Actively cooperates with youth councils, councils of young scientists, public organizations in terms of training, webinars, cultural events, schools for young leaders. Lecturer in the UNDP program: Skills-Labs: one’s own business, free training program “Create your own business within 1 month”, Winter School for Young Scientist, author of two online courses, collaborates with the Center for Small and Medium Business Support, scientific consultant of private companies.
During training, participants learned about the characteristics and differences of social initiative, the basics of project activities: stages of the project cycle, members and roles in the team, planning deadlines, risks, and resource allocation. Special attention was paid to examples of social initiatives implementation as well as educational opportunities and resources for practical application.
Day 8, the last one: February 16, 2022, 17.00 – 20.00 – the summing up.
On February 16, 2022, the final participants’ meeting of the Winter Online School of Volunteering for Young Scientists was held with the support of the British Embassy in Ukraine within the “Active Citizens” Program of the British Council in Ukraine.
During the two months of training, participants of the Volunteer School together with project facilitators Olesia Vashchuk and Oksana Tashkinova, invited coaches, experts and consultants Anastasiia Simakhova, Andrii Khorolskyi, Olha Rohovska, Liudmyla Ponomarova, Oleksandra Mandych, Yevheniia Polishchuk and Liudmyla Pidkuimukha made an interesting trip to the world of social assistance, volunteering, social initiatives and leadership, participated in trainings and consultations, created interdisciplinary and creative teams, developed and presented current social projects.
From January 19 to 28, experienced coaches – young scientists from different parts of Ukraine conducted various trainings, and in the inter-training period – from January 29 to February 15, 2022 participants of the “Winter Online School of Volunteering for Young Scientists” were tasked to unite in groups and develop a social project to solve a pressing social problem in their community. 45 participants of the School of Volunteering presented more than 20 different group and individual projects, namely:
- “Volunteers of the zoomer generation. Online school of volunteering for student youth” (Kotelevets A., Solianyk M., Bybyk D., Pavelieva A., Tiahunova Z., Tepliuk M., Shyshova O., Martyniuk Ya., Sokirba Ye., Miro I.);
- “The problem of solving the disposal of household waste (dumps) in the cities of Ukraine” (Chobotko I.);
- Draft volunteer proposal for the community of Kherson region: “Development of small business in the community: creative professions of the future” (Zhosan H., Smolinkina A.), “Adventive plant species of Chernihiv region and their invasive potential” (Shevchenko L.);
- “#Cancer must not be feared” (Fedina O.);
- “LET’S TALK ABOUT BOOKS” (Marchenko N.);
- Volunteer project “Online course on preparation for external independent evaluation for children from orphanages in Ukraine” (Podobied O.);
- PODCAST SERIES NEpopsa.UA (what you didn't know about Ukrainian music) (Kravchuk O., Lebid Yu.);
- Social project: Motivation for entering a higher education institution of Ukraine (Minhaliova Yu.);
- “School of volunteering” as a subject of the regional inclusive cultural and educational space (Pylypenko Ya.);
- Space of scientific mentor-community: a social project (Zachosova N.);
- Open science. IT volunteering (Kopytkov V., Marakhovska K., Puzachova A., Kulbanska I.);
- Scientific club of agrarian technologies and forestry (Shevchenko L., Kudriashova K.);
- Debate club (Hnidenko V.);
- Project “Spring Toloka [form of communal voluntary work – translator’s note]” (Polishchuk O.) and others.
Together with young scientists from the Institute of Human Sciences of Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, National Pedagogical Dragomanov University and Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman, Anna Pavelieva is developing a social project – “Online School of Volunteering for Those Receiving Higher Education”, which aims to develop volunteering among student youth, the formation of social responsibility in young people.
“Within the framework of the Winter Online School of Volunteering for Young Scientists of Ukraine, I learned a lot about volunteering in our country, ways to organize and conduct volunteer projects, carry out financial calculations, work with documentation and reporting, conducted training for our students on teamwork and conflict management and met more than 50 young scientists from different parts of Ukraine.
We have even planned joint scientific events with some colleagues, such as the scientific cafe “333 kilometers of scientific integrity in action” and a conference, I was also invited to become a jury member of the competition of academic integrity projects within the All-Ukrainian scientific-practical conference “Research of young scientists: from idea to implementation”, which will take place on March 18-19 in Kyiv,” – recounted a participant of the Winter Online School of Volunteering for Young Scientists, Head of the Council of Young Scientists of the Faculty of Humanities, Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation Anna Pavelieva.
Previously, polytechnic scientists were trained in effective eco-management, a lecturer at the Faculty of Humanities took part in an international conference on intercultural mediation, scientists from the Department of Germanic Philology and Translation received a free copy of the board game “TranslationInAction”, the dean of the Faculty of Humanities won a grant for a virtual exchange project with the United States, and the scientist of the Faculty of Humanities conducted training on teamwork and conflict management.
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
