With the support of the Alliance and 11 other expert partners from the European sector, V4V aims to analyse the sport volunteer workforce, improve recruitment and retention, and create an innovative online self-assessment tool which identifies and showcases their skills and competences to potential employers and education providers.
Volunteers are vital and gain much informal learning which, if made visible, will be a powerful incentive to volunteer recruitment, ease transition into paid employment and career progression, and address skill shortages.
The main expected outputs of the V4V project include:
- A comprehensive mapping of sport volunteer workforce
- A digital toolkit for volunteer recruitment, retention and management
- An online competency-based self-assessment tool so volunteers can identify and showcase skills and competences gained through volunteering experiences
- The first ever European Sport Volunteering Skills Summit
The first meeting on Wednesday 5 May was scheduled to take place in Portugal, but due to COVID restrictions was successfully held online.
The meeting gave the chance to learn about the work of each partner organisation in sport volunteering and hear their expectations for the project. The reasons for the project and the detailed workplan were also presented at the meeting.
Partners began to plan for a comprehensive mapping of the sport volunteering workforce in Europe; discussing the main areas to focus on during the project research activities.
They suggested a range of sources to include in the desk research and discussed the interviews with volunteers and Europe-wide survey of stakeholders which will take place in the project.
Martin Lindsey, Chief Operating Officer of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, said “The V4V project represents a fantastic opportunity to unlock the true value of volunteering in sport and we are delighted to partner with EOSE and others in the sector to drive this work forward.
“The benefits of volunteering to both the individual and organisation are huge, and we hope that collectively we will be able to showcase this through this all-important project.”
Aurélien Favre, EOSE Executive Director, added “During this project kick-off meeting, it was encouraging to see the commitment and enthusiasm of the partners to develop the area of volunteering in sport in Europe.
“We look forward to pursuing the collaboration to deliver a proper analysis of volunteering in sport and innovative tools to positively impact the recruitment, development and retention of volunteers in our sector.”
Learn more about the V4V Project.
Contact: Aurélien Favre - EOSE Executive Director - aurelien.favre@eose.org
Full list of partners:
- European Observatoire of Sport and Employment (EOSE) - France/ EU
- International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) - Denmark / Global
- European Volunteer Centre (CEV) - Belgium / EU
- World Rugby - Ireland / Global
- International Judo Federation Academy Foundation (IJF) - Malta / Global
- Romanian Football Federation (FRF) - Romania
- Finnish Athletics Federation (SUL) - Finland
- Sport and Recreation Alliance (SRA) - United Kingdom
- Portuguese Institute of Sport and Youth (IDPJ) - Portugal
- Estonian Foundation of Sports Education and Information (FSEI) - Estonia
- National Institute for Sport Research (NISR) - Romania
- University of Physical Education (UPE) - Hungary
- Leeds Beckett University (LBU) - United Kingdom
