Moscow, Russia - On International Volunteer Day, Dec. 5, 2012, an online roundtable brought together volunteer organizers from Russia (Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, and Nizhnevartovsk), Austria (Vienna), and Israel (Holon). The theme of the conference was "The Development of Youth Volunteer Projects." One of the tasks of the roundtable was to identify the general portrait of a "true volunteer" as well as to analyze the motivations and values of volunteers and the development of future joint projects.
This round table was a logical continuation of the joint Russian-Israeli project "Good without Borders" and the International Leadership Conference held in Vienna in October 2012, where Austrian youth activists found the support of the volunteer program in Russia, realized by SBD "South Eastern Administrative County`s Youth Center "Youth Commonwealth" and the Universal Peace Federation. The leader of the Moscow roundtable, Eugenia Beginina, an Ambassador for Peace and the Head of the Information and Analysis Department of the Youth Commonwealth, spoke about the effectiveness of the collaboration between charitable organizations, the public sector, and volunteers.
The Secretary General of UPF-Moscow, Dmitry Samko, introduced many activities of the youth movement and urged participants to join UPF's international projects.
Agafonova Valentina, deputy director of the project "Dance4life" in Russia, shared an inspiring and relevant experience working with youth about maintaining their health and preventing HIV.
Renat Gubaidullin, Director of the Volunteer Center of Nizhnevartovsk, also shared his inspiring experiences. In Kazan, the discussion was supported by students of the gymnasium № 19, led by Dinara Garayeva, Secretary General of the Kazan Model UN. Youth Ambassadors for Peace from Yekaterinburg, led by Eugene Skvortsov, also took part in the discussion; they summarized numerous valuable ideas and encapsulated the discussion on the "true volunteer," who, by all accounts, should be responsible, goal-oriented, friendly, altruistic, tolerant, polite, hard working, spiritual, and, of course, having no bad habits and carrying faith, hope, and love.
It was especially valuable to hear about the extensive experiences of Vladislav Boguslawski from Israel, who for many years headed a youth center and now works in the Department of Education of the City of Holon. With great interest, the roundtable participants from Russia asked questions of their colleagues from Vienna, who advised not overloading volunteers, gradually introducing them to volunteering, and caring for them so they do not "burn out."
At the end of two hours of fruitful dialogue, participants identified several specific cooperative projects. Everyone especially enjoyed the idea of sharing children's drawings and the creative works of children in orphanages and other institutions for children in difficult situations.
Undoubtedly, this unique experience will continue, because is aligned with the words of the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: "Due to the fact that volunteering is based on valuable principles of solidarity and mutual trust, it does not know any cultural, linguistic and geographical borders… let's reiterate our readiness to ensure the purposes of volunteering as the source of force and inspiration for all people."