The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) plans to introduce personal volunteer books in the Year of Youth. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Victoria Menannova, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union and Chairperson of the Central Council of the Belarusian Republican Pioneer Organization.
The Belarusian Republican Youth Union (BRSM) plans to introduce personal volunteer books in the Year of Youth. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by Victoria Menannova, Secretary of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Republican Youth Union and Chairperson of the Central Council of the Belarusian Republican Pioneer Organization.
"Yesterday, at the congress, the idea of creating so-called personal volunteer books was put forward. We adopted this practice from Russia, where such books have been introduced for a long time and, incidentally, were very popular during the Sochi Olympics," said Victoria Menannova.
A personal volunteer book is a kind of analogue to a work record book, which contains information about a person's volunteer experience, their activities in a particular field, awards for participation in certain events, as well as achievements and additional qualifications.
"We believe the book will help our young people, members of the BRSM, when applying to secondary vocational institutions and universities. For example, if our volunteer has been actively working with the elderly, veterans, large families, or orphans for many years, universities may take this into account when admitting an applicant to a social profession. The personal volunteer book will also be helpful for employment. It can become a good asset for increasing a young person's work experience. We plan to promote the idea that volunteer experience should be counted towards overall work experience," said Victoria Menannova.
Also at the congress, an initiative was put forward to create a unified volunteer centre that could coordinate the work of all volunteers in the country – both BRSM and other public associations whose priority is such activity. "We don't know how many people are involved in volunteering in our country. There is no single body that unites all volunteers of the republic, as well as maintains statistical information, develops methodological recommendations, and conducts volunteer training. We are actively promoting this idea. We hope that eventually we will find the right path towards creating a unified concept for the volunteer movement in the country and officially define the status of a volunteer," said Victoria Menannova.