This slogan on a presentation made me ask myself, why – this phrase means “Little ducks - time to start”. Antonina, who was the creator of this presentation, simply answered – to draw attention.

Our seminar definitely drew attention. The title may be not so creative, “Volunteering and volunteer projects”, but on our call we received over 30 applications and numerous calls and requests after the deadline was due.

On the week-end of 14th and 15th of April we met on the 3rd floor of the boarding school for children with cerebral palsy, with the aim to talk about different experiences of NGOs in the sphere of volunteering, present international volunteer projects, local activities organized by volunteers, and of course possibilities for networking and cooperation. The participants were coming from wide range of NGOs and groups, with representatives of Amnesty International Ukraine, “Man against violence”, foundation “Youth of Donbass” working with addicted youth, LaStrada Center on human rights protection and against human trafficking, environmental NGOs “Center of environmental research” and “Friends of Gomolsha forest”, Youth Incite information portal, youth training center “Apelsin”, school volunteer group “Yunlandia”, Donetsk resource center on HIV/AIDS “Most”, and of course activists of SVIT-Ukraine.

We built the program around diverse interactive methods and active involvement of participants, so that content of each session depended on the participants, and not on the prep-team. It started with presentation of organizations and their activities, including SCI and SVIT; different types and kinds of volunteer projects – long and short term, with local and international participants. Representatives of foundation “Youth of Donbass” told about their experience of volunteer work with drugs and alcohol addicted youth, Artem from “Man against violence” – about volunteer work for charity; representatives of environmental NGOs told about involvement of volunteers in ecological work. The examples of SVIT were long-term project “Youth transcending new frontiers”, international volunteer workcamps and long-term projects with EVS volunteers. The last two we took as samples for further work and discussion. Participants planned short-term volunteer project with its components in working groups. The next step was dedicated to long-term projects with international volunteer(s), preparation and realization, support and coaching of the volunteer during the project. The first day ended with “What I want to know” and “What I want to share” questions, for planning of Open space. It consisted of two rounds of parallel workshops on the topics of “Projects with long-term volunteers”, “Networking and internet resources for volunteering, organization of international volunteer workcamp in details, work with marginalized youth groups. The final sessions were planning for the future and networking, and evaluation.

Related to feelings, feedback from the participants:

• important topic for the organization
• tolerance
• the venue of the seminar
• Ukrainian problems and reality

As a prep-team, we are happy about the outcomes. We found like-minded people and organizations interested in volunteer activities, partners for the projects of 2007 and behind, ideas for future cooperation, and inspiration. So, Kachenyata na Start! – it is just a beginning.

The seminar took place in the framework of project “Creation of Coordinating Centers on Volunteering in Ukraine and Moldova”, with financial support of Zukunftsfonds, Germany.