Increasing opportunities for volunteering by newly arrived immigrants

Estonian NGOs are starting to create better opportunities for newly arrived immigrants to find their way to local civic initiatives and to contribute to society. Within the framework of the initiative implemented by the Estonian Village Movement Kodukant and the Network of Estonian Non-profit Organisations, the three-language and user-friendly web portal Volunteer Gateway will be transformed, among other things, and the ability of associations to involve people from different linguistic groups in their activities will be increased.

“The forthcoming Project will certainly contribute to the wider spread of volunteering, as several studies point to the great interest of newly arrived immigrants living in Estonia in participating in voluntary activities. However, only a small number of them have reached to real actions so far. The main obstacle for newly arrived immigrants is the lack of information on volunteering opportunities, because information is mostly available in Estonian only. In NGOs’ view, the main challenge has been the lack of awareness of NGOs about the possibilities of involving newly arrived immigrants and the fear that the inclusion of people speaking other languages into the community will lead to additional work”, explained Eha Paas, the leader of the voluntary sector in Kodukant.

In order for the web portal Volunteer Gateway to meet the needs of potential volunteers and volunteering intermediary organisations in the best way, on June 12th at 10.00-14.00, Kodukant is planning an analysis seminar in Tallinn, where everyone is welcome. You can let us know by your contact details below.

You are also welcome to provide feedback to the web portal Volunteer Gateway so that we can make it more relevant to the user’s expectations. A questionnaire for volunteers is at https://forms.gle/xMybfLZB4bWZqKVG7 and a questionnaire for volunteering intermediary organisations is at https://forms.gle/Rt9giEzNg9za1KjY6.

Volunteer-oriented activities will be focused primarily on Harju County, Ida-Viru County and Tartu County. In each of these counties, at least three communities will be identified that would like to consider thoroughly how to successfully integrate newly arrived immigrants into their activities: autumn training is planned in each county, and then all participants in the training can contribute to the volunteer friend’s label counselling programme.

Please let us know by email tanelmatlik@gmail.com by June 1 about your interest to participate in the Project.

The Project “Promotion of Volunteering of Newly Arrived Immigrants in Estonia” is financed by the European Social Fund and the Estonian state. Project activities are expected to start in late May.

Additional information:

Tanel Mätlik
Project Manager
email: tanelmatlik@gmail.com
tel: +372 510 2705

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