E-News May: European Volunteers in Parks

Within the framework of the project “GRUNDTVIG Learning Partnership - European Volunteers in Parks”, Federparchi-EUROPARC Italia and Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park organized, the II international Workshop for Volunteer Coordinators in April. The project aims to encourage volunteering in Protected Areas, to share good practices and to promote the creation of a European network.

23 participants from 8 European countries attended the workshop, which aimed to analyse and compare different volunteer programs and experiences in Europe. Many interesting topics were discussed including: how to select volunteers for specific or difficult tasks; how to involve international volunteers, considering linguistic differences; how to manage possible conflicts between volunteers and park staff or public; how to work with young people and schools. The discussion highlighted the diversity and various priorities of volunteer programs in different countries and some cultural difficulties were also illustrated.

Part of the workshop was dedicated to practical activities including getting to know the Abruzzo Park’s voluntary programme, which is the oldest and most organised programme in Italy. So participants spent an enjoyable day as volunteer in the park, helping park staff and local people with: fauna monitoring, territorial control, maintenance of the parks infrastructure, cultural and natural data collection, etc. The experience brought many new inputs into the dialogue.

Huge thanks go to the dynamic and motivated park volunteers, who supported the organizers of the seminar and contributed to the good success of the workshop. A special thank you also goes to the Park’s inhabitants for enabling the participants to connect so well with the local community.  

The project will continue with the exchange of volunteers among the partners, waiting to the third and final workshop in Latvia, in September 2009.

Please note: Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park and Federparchi-EUROPARC Italia would like to thank the participants for their expressions of solidarity and friendship they sent after the terrible earthquake in Abruzzo, which occurred after a day after the workshop. The National Park was fortunately not affected by the quake but other protected areas in the region were unfortunately not so lucky.

Please ask Federparchi's - EUROPARC Italy's coordinator Stefania Petrosillo for more information about the workshop or contact EUROPARC Germany for more information about the GRUNDTVIG Learning Partnership - European Volunteers in Parks