What challenge inspired this recipe?
Often volunteers have to wait 1-3 months (or in special cases even longer) for the on-arrival training provided by the National Agency. We therefore host “welcome days” for all newly arriving volunteers within the first week after their arrival. In the 1-2 welcome day program, Grenzenlos provides the volunteers with all relevant information for their project start, volunteering project, and life in their host country. Topics covered are for example: the ESC program (its principles and mission, the guidelines for ESC volunteering projects, righs and duties of all parties involved, etc.), Grenzenlos and the local support structures in Vienna, finances, public transport, accommodation (house rules, sustainability info e.g. local recycling system), health care and insurance, emergency contacts, mental health resources, linguistic support options, social and cultural life offers, information about your “local buddies” system, etc.
The welcome days are also used to discuss the participants hopes and expectations, motivation, and fears and doubts about their volunteering activity, as well as reflect together on what “solidarity” means to them and how they could explore and/or live this concept further during their time as ESC volunteers.
The welcome days also offer administrative support to the volunteers, e.g. with filling in registration forms, signing agreements, collecting the participant’s travel tickets and exceptional cost invoices, etc.
All the volunteers arriving at the same time will attend the welcome days sessions together as a group, therefore, the program also included team building and getting to know each other exercises, and the welcome days thus are also a first good chance to meet fellow volunteers, network and connect.
Ingredients :
- Application and assessment forms of the volunteers as background information for planning the welcome days
- Appropriate location
- Funding: maybe needed for food and drinks, rent for the location, if the volunteers don’t all live in the same city: to cover their travel expenses
Step by step guide
- Create a welcome day program relevant to your context and participants
- Some of the topics might be like the ones mentioned above (ESC program, insurance, local transport, accommodation info, linguistic support, finances, etc.)
- Find an appropriate location for the welcome event (size of the room, accessibility, availability, etc.)
- Inform volunteers before arrival about the welcome session, when and where it will take place, a rough overview of the program (knowing that they will have an info event right after arrival, usually calms the volunteers a bit down, knowing that they will still get the chance to ask questions and get further clarification on certain things once they arrive to their host country)
- Make sure you take participant’s needs and profiles (e.g. allergies, special dietary requirements, (dis)abilities, mental health issues, their self-description of their personality etc.) as well as their skills (e.g. language level, did they have a pre-departure training or not, etc.) into consideration when planning the welcome days.
- Group volunteers together in regard to their arrival dates. Volunteers that arrive at the same time should attend the welcome day program together.
Important to highlight!How the “welcome day” is being implemented, which topics are being covered, who is invited, when it takes place, etc. of course has to be adapted to each organization’s local realities and available funds. Generally, we consider it a best practice though to have welcoming meetings with all volunteers (individually or as a group) shortly after their arrival to the host country, as it helps to ease the participant’s arrival and is a good opportunity not only for establishing a good, more personal relationship with the participants, but also to take care of mandatory/important administrative right at project start. As an alternative to the “physical”/local meetings, online meetings could be held, although we do see the in person meetings as having more potential/impact. |
Before you start cooking, keep in mind…
The welcome day sessions as group events are of course only possible if multiple volunteers arrive to start their ESC projects at the same time. If people arrive singularly, we still have a welcome session with them but it will not be a 2 day program but usually a shorter meeting with the same contents.
