Recap: Webinar on Volunteers

On 16 May 2024, the third Webinar on Volunteers has welcomed participants from across Europe and world.

Katrin Koller working with the NeuStart, Austria, presented on the work of volunteers within the probation service. Aged from 25 to 70, there are around 1000 voluntary probation officers coming from all areas of life responsible for 30% of the probation clients (in majority of cases low-risk) with a maximum caseload of 5 clients. As addition to approx. 800 (professional) probation officers this brings benefits to both the probation service as well as voluntary probation officers. The well-functioning Austrian system that, among others, opens better access to and knowledge of regional resources, brings cost reduction and relief for professional probation officers, has gained a positive attention from politicians and government.

The Cooperation to Promote a European Volunteering Programme in Probation Services (CoPPer project) where CEP is a project leader cooperating closely with 6 other partner organizations from The Netherlands, Portugal, Ireland and Romania was presented by Melinda Lewis from the Dutch Probation Service. Following up on the shared vision of social inclusion, having in mind that reintegration is a two-way street and volunteering is complementary, Melinda introduced the project with its already achieved outcomes – Evidence Review of Volunteering in Probation -, further elaborating on the competency framework, skills and knowledge of volunteers. By supporting strengths and talents of volunteers, providing them with guidelines, training and resources, professional volunteers may bring a variety of benefits to the work of probation services and to its clients.

Presentations
1) Katrin Koller, Neustart, Austria – Volunteer Probation Service in Austria
2) Melinda Lewis, Probation Service, The Netherlands – CoPPer project