Country Report - Volunteering in the Czech Republic

1. Brief introduction into the local context of volunteering
2. Definitions of volunteer work and volunteering
3. Government policy and legislation on volunteering
4. Data on the economic value of volunteering
5. Hestia - National Volunteer Center
6. Personal story
7. List of other volunteer involving organizations in the Czech Republic
8. Other links
9. Author`s biography

1. Brief introduction into the local context of volunteering
There has always been a strong tradition of volunteering in the Czech Republic. People usually engage in a volunteer work for the community via civic associations and institutions and assist the handicapped, abandoned children or other socially excluded people, care about the environment, promote the local culture or watch the human rights. General understanding of volunteering was biased during the previous fourty years of totalitarian communist regime during which a vast majority of social activities was based on the principle of the socialist collectivism.

In 90^th there was a dynamic growth of associations and civic organizations which had quickly taken up. These institutions were based on a completely voluntary engagement of their members, e.g. Scout, YMCA, Sokol (a sports organization) etc. Concurrently there was a rapid rise of brand new civic associations in the fields of culture, youth, sports and others which in the beginning relied on a voluntary work only.

Voluntary sector in the Czech Republic began to change subsequently in the end of the 90^th. A number of umbrella associations were established in order to professionalize the voluntary sector through education and institutional advertising. Hestia - National Volunteer Center was one of the first to provide systematic guides on the  management of volunteering and coordination of volunteers. Thus  the volunteering was advanced towards a more professional and effective state. This advancement was later stronger supported by the European funds as these financed a number of projects aimed at promoting of the systematic mangement of volunteering in the civic institutions.

In 2002, volunteering had been tied closely to the state social policy. A new Law on volunteer service defined the term of volunteering and ensured its applications in various social policy fields. Since then volunteering was e.g. acknowledged as an effective way of caring for unemployed people and other socialy excluded persons.

Also other forms of volunteering were moreless successfully adopted in the Czech Republic during the last five years. Among others it is the youth volunteering service abroad or a corporate volunteering as a part of the corporate social responsibility concept.

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country_report_Czech_Republic_english.pdf