LAW ON VOLUNTARISM AS A FORMAL FRAMEWORK OF SOCIALRESPONSIBLE CONTENTS
Borut Ambrožič, MSc
Maribor Art Galery (UGM), Slovenija
[email protected]
Abstract
The concept of volunteering is closely related to the concept of social responsibility. The common thread is a
voluntary approach to sustainable addressed issues. The bill on volunteering represents a system regulation of this
field, which is largely linked to the younger population. The law lays down minimum standards for volunteers and
voluntary organizations, as well as standards to organize and carry out voluntary work. It defines the importance of
volunteering, definitions, basic principles and conditions for the provision of organized volunteering, rights and
obligations of volunteers and voluntary organizations and the role of state, local communities, voluntary and nonprofit organizations in the promotion and development of organized volunteering.
The bill also covers a wider field of socially useful work of individuals and voluntary organizations, whose
activities, knowledge and experience contribute significantly to the sustainable development of society. The
mentioned law follows constitutional and human values as well as principles of the development of a sympathetic,
social, humane and egalitarian society. For the purpose of promoting volunteering, the government intends to
prepare a development strategy of volunteering that will be adopted for a period of five years.
The formal framework of voluntarism gives also the opportunities for the unemployed to become active in this field,
which has a positive effect on the level of self-esteem of unemployed persons as well as on the increased
opportunities of re-employment. Encouragement of the development of volunteering and voluntary organizations
may contribute significantly to the reduction of poverty and higher employability. It may develop social
responsibility awareness and encourage the active population in the segment of public institutions (such as UGM).
The bill also establishes national awards for outstanding achievements in the field of volunteering for both
individuals and organizations in order to encourage volunteering and increase the recognition of the importance of
volunteering in the social environment.
Keywords: volunteering, social responsibility, public institutions, sustainable development, equal society
ZAKON O PROSTOVOLJSTVU KOT FORMALNI OKVIR DRUŽBENO
ODGOVORNIH VSEBIN
Povzetek
Pojem prostovoljstva je tesno povezan s konceptom družbene odgovornosti, katerega rdeča nit je prostovoljni
pristop k reševanju trajnostno naravnanih vprašanj. Predlog Zakona o prostovoljstvu predstavlja sistemsko ureditev
tega področja, ki je v veliki meri vezano na mlado populacijo. Zakon določa minimalne pogoje za prostovoljce in
prostovoljske organizacije ter za organiziranje in opravljanje prostovoljskega dela, določa pomen prostovoljstva,
opredeljuje pojme, temeljna načela in pogoje za opravljanje organiziranega prostovoljskega dela, pravice in
obveznosti prostovoljcev in prostovoljskih organizacij ter vlogo države, lokalnih skupnosti, prostovoljskih in
nepridobitnih organizacij pri spodbujanju in razvoju organiziranega prostovoljstva.
S predlogom zakona se prav tako ureja širše področje družbeno koristnega dela posameznika in prostovoljskih
organizacij, ki s svojimi aktivnostmi, znanjem in izkušnjami pomembno prispevajo k trajnostnemu razvoju družbe.
Predmetni zakon sledi ustavnim in človeškim vrednotam in načelom o razvoju solidarne, socialne, humane in
enakopravne družbe. Za namen vzpodbujanja prostovoljstva je predvidena priprava strategije razvoja prostovoljstva,
ki jo bo Vlada RS sprejemala za obdobje petih let.
Formalni okvir prostovoljstva med drugim odpira tudi možnosti za vključevanje brezposelnih v prostovoljsko delo
in s tem v aktivni del prebivalstva, kar pozitivno učinkuje tako na raven samopodobe brezposelne osebe kot na dvig
možnosti za ponovno zaposlitev. Vzpodbujanje razvoja prostovoljstva in prostovoljskih organizacij lahko
pomembno prispeva k zniževanju revščine, višji zaposljivosti prebivalstva, razvoju družbeno odgovorne zavesti ter
vzpodbujanju aktivnega prebivalstva tudi v segmentu javnih institucij (primer UGM). Predlog zakona tudi uvaja
državna priznanja za izjemne dosežke na področju prostovoljstva za posameznika in organizacije, z namenom
vzpodbujanja prostovoljstva ter dviga prepoznavnosti pomena prostovoljstva v družbenem okolju.
Ključne besede: prostovoljstvo, družbena odgovornost, javne institucije, trajnostni razvoj, enakopravna družba.
1. Introduction
The definition of volunteering is closely related to the concept of social responsibility. In our country the social
responsibility is otherwise not (yet) formally framed (read: summarized in the law), but in the field of volunteering
we are close to adopting a law that will systematically regulate a domain that is largely linked with young/youth
population and with the encouragement for young people to be creative.
The bill on volunteering is normatively regulating the domain of volunteering for the first time in the Republic of
Slovenia and defining the minimal conditions for volunteers and volunteer organizations to organize and perform
voluntary work (training of the volunteers, guaranteeing their safety, reimbursement of costs, monitoring and
supporting their work and appropriate insurance). The bill is fully determining the importance of volunteering,
defining the concept, basic principles and conditions to perform organized voluntary work, rights and obligations of
volunteers and volunteer organizations as well as the role of the state, local communities, volunteer and non-profit
organizations in the promotion and development of organized volunteering1.
2. What is volunteering?
The volunteering or the voluntary work represents a domain where thousands of people in Slovenia take active part
in both on every day basis and occasionally. The volunteering is not yet integrally defined nor is the basic
framework of rights and status of volunteers in the system of social security. The Code of Ethics for organized
volunteering defines a volunteer as an individual performing voluntary work. An individual may be (simultaneously
or alternately) a volunteer, a beneficiary or an organizer of the voluntary work.
The volunteering applies to different fields – social, sports, recreational, educational, medical, cultural,
environmental, tourist, in crisis situations (firemen, rescuers, etc.) and many other fields. It is performed by women
and men, young people and children, by middle aged and elderly people; everyone can take part in respect of one’s
capabilities, as there are no fundamental limitations for it2.
The volunteering is a part of social capital that is crucial for occurrences, values and welfare of society 3. According
to the Slovene Philanthropy, the volunteers in Slovenia do 1,3 million work hours per year. That requires at least
7.125 full time employees4. The reasons why someone becomes a volunteer are various, but in any case a voluntary
work ˝gives back˝ to a volunteer: positive emotions, sense of usefulness, new knowledge and aptitudes, new
acquaintances, useful and pleasant way of spending spare time, references, etc.
In addition to realizing the interpersonal solidarity, performing voluntary work is important for the young people
also for:
- learning point of view; gaining aptitudes and experiences that can prove useful for the young people later on in
life, in the job role or in other spheres of life;
- activism point of view; the volunteering makes it possible for young people to realize their interests or the interests
of different social groups, to fight for the rights and influence the decision making (putting it simple: they change
the world)
- organization point of view which helps the youth to learn to cooperate, work in groups and to make decisions in a
democratic way which is important also from a wider social point of view 5.
3. 2011 – The year of volunteering
The Council of Europe has designed 2011 as the European year of volunteering promoting active citizenship under
the slogan »Volunteer! Make a difference«. Volunteering of young people is of particular importance as it represents
1
http://www.racunovodja.com/clanki.asp?clanek=4963
http://www.prostovoljstvo.org/index.php?id=10&lang=sl
3
Volunteer e-news. Accessible at:
http://www.prostovoljstvo.org/index.php?id=13&pid=51&a=single&lang=sl
4
http://cnvosinfo.civilni-dialog.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=961&Itemid=32
5
http://www.mss.si/
2
an effective way to educate young people to participate as responsible citizens in social events6. The European year
of volunteering represents an important opportunity to present the importance of volunteering and to expand its
circle. The Decision comprises the following objectives:
•
•
•
•
creating a supportive environment for volunteering in the EU
empowering volunteer organizations and improve the quality of volunteering
recognizing volunteering activities
raising awareness of the value and importance of volunteering.
4. Volunteering in Slovenia throughout history
An organized volunteering or the first associations in the territory of today’s Slovenia can be traced back in 19th
century. They were also largely influenced by the Church. A greater development occurred in the beginning of the
20th century with the appearance of scouts’ movements in 1922. After the 2nd world war, the Yugoslavia of that time
was firmly encouraging youth work brigades. It was characteristic of this ˝post-war˝ era that the state controlled all
of the volunteering activity7.
In the eighties of the former century began the intense setting up of different associations of interests that operated
mainly and the majority merely on the basis of voluntary work. In 1987 Hrastovski anali were published on the
initiative of, what seemed to be, an insignificant meeting of experts in the institute Zavod Hrastovec Trate designed
for persons with development disorder. The importance of this event lies precisely in the beginning of
deinstitutionalization and opening of totalitarian closed institutions. The experts began to recognize the importance
of volunteering and began to look at it as an additional help and advantage rather than competition of sectors in
offering better help for beneficiaries8.
In the beginning of the nineties the development of associations in the domain of volunteering was only spreading.
In 1992, a humanitarian organization Slovenska filantropija began to exercise its activities. This is an Association
for the Promotion of Volunteering that was established as an association whose fundamental mission is to develop
and promote volunteering on a national basis in Slovenia.
The programs of the association are aimed at increasing the quality of life in the community and advocacy of
socially weak. Its central activity is the promotion of volunteering as we firmly believe that through volunteering we
can all contribute to a better and more tolerant society, based on the respect of all people regardless of their personal
or living circumstances9.
On the basis of cooperation was established also a Slovenian network of volunteer organizations that numbers today
already more than 600 volunteer organizations.
Today we have more than 20.000 registered associations in Slovenia, in many of which the part of volunteers is not
negligible. A study carried out by the Social Protection Institute of the Republic of Slovenia showed the extent of
the volunteering – in 2004, the volunteers in Slovenian non-governmental organizations did 1, 3 million work hours,
which means they did the extent of work corresponding to the work done by 7.125 full time employees.
5. Corporate volunteering and corporate social responsibility
In the developed world the corporate volunteering is on a great increase as it ensures strong bonds with the local
community and is of benefit to all participants (employees, company, non-profit organizations, local community,
and society). In some places, it is defined as employee volunteering, employee-supported volunteering. By means of
its activities, the company is directly and necessarily influencing the social environment where exercising its
activities. Later on in the past, this fact gradually formed the awareness that this influence demanded to act
responsible towards all aspects of the society it touches upon.
Corporate volunteering programs are expressed in several forms: one-time events or medium-term and long-term
programs. It is a voluntary unpaid work of employees for the benefit of a wider community that is supported by the
employer or company through different initiatives10. The legal liability represents the expectations of the society that
6
http://www.prostovoljstvo.org/index.php?id=386&lang=sl
Example: Law on religious communities that in 1946 limited the activities of charitable organization Karitas.
8
http://www.prostovoljstvo.org/index.php?id=11&lang=sl
9
http://www.filantropija.org/filantropija.asp?FolderId=69
10
http://www.filantropija.org/filantropija.asp?FolderId=120
7
the companies exercise their activity within legal frameworks. The volunteering responsibility is however not
subject to no standards and is the result of personal decision of the owners, entrepreneurs or individuals.
The times when the companies exercised their social responsibility merely by sponsorship and donations, were
replaced by innovative ways of socially responsible appearance in the area where companies exercise their
activity11. These are innovative ways of cooperation with all the participants in the local environment that have a
stimulating effect on the employees and the business objectives of the company. The expression increasingly used in
the EU is Responsible Entrepreneurship that signifies provision of economic success of the company by integrating
social and environmental factors into its business activities.
6. Slovenian regulations related to volunteering
The applicable legislation in the Slovenian legal area mentions volunteering in the: Constitution of the Republic of
Slovenia, Social Assistance Act, Fire fighting Act, Protection Against Natural and Other Disasters Act, Military
Service Act. Even in the field of educational system a great step was taken by forming the national school youth
volunteering network. The Code of Ethics for organized volunteering that binds all the volunteers and voluntary
organizations and represents the basic guidelines and minimal standards that volunteers and voluntary organizations
are to comply with in their work, also plays an important role. In The Resolution on the national social assistance
program 2006 - 2010 the Government of the RS defined promotion and development of volunteering as one of the
basic policies.
However, on the international level the issues of volunteering are also referred to in: The Universal Declaration on
Volunteering, adopted by The International Association of Volunteer Effort in Paris in 1990, The Universal
Declaration of human Rights adopted in 1948, The European Convention for Protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms adopted in 1998 and other international agreements in the field f human rights,
responsibilities towards nature and living creatures, that The Republic of Slovenia signed or ratified.
None the less, volunteering is not yet legally integrally defined, respectively the basic frameworks of rights are not
defined. This ˝legal vacuum˝ is to be solved by The Law on Volunteering.
6.1 The draft law on volunteering
The draft law on volunteering is going to be discussed by The Committee on Domestic Policy, Public
Administration and Justice on the 13th of January 2011. The Law on volunteering determines the definition and the
importance of volunteering, its basic principles, the conditions for exercising an organized volunteering, the rights
and obligations of volunteers and voluntary organizations as well as the role of the state, local communities,
voluntary and non-profit organizations working in the field of volunteering, in the monitoring, promoting and
developing the organized volunteering.
Key issues regulated by the law:
- Definition of organized volunteering, volunteers and voluntary organizations where a special place is devoted to a
long-term volunteering;
- definition of rights and obligations of volunteers and voluntary organizations, where the important rights of a
volunteers are as follow: voluntary work is well organized, volunteers is assured an appropriate training, a
volunteers has a mentor and character support in exercising voluntary work, a volunteer is insured for work
accidents or occupational diseases as well as the right to reimbursement of costs and remuneration without tax;
- definition of the role of the state, regional and local communities that are bound to engage more in the support and
development of the voluntary work, especially in the sense of registering and evaluating voluntary work, assuring
favorable material and legal basis for the carrying out of voluntary work as well as providing financial resources for
the co-financing of the costs of voluntary work. In all levels, the state authorities are bound to cooperate with
voluntary organizations in regulating the affaires that concern volunteering12.
11
The corporate social responsibility signifies that when exercising their everyday business activities the companies
endeavor to accomplish their social and environmental objectives namely voluntarily and by surpassing regulations.
The basic document that concerns the corporate social responsibility is so-called Green Paper. The European Union
also began to deal very actively with this socially very important issue namely within the framework of the Lisbon
Declaration adopted in 2000 and the Green Paper later on.
12
http://www.cnvos.si/article/id/2231/cid/79
The articles of the law follow the constitutional and human values as well as the following principles: prohibiting of
the discrimination, the principle of protection of beneficiaries of the voluntary work, the principle of prohibition of
exploitation of volunteers, the principle of protection of children, youth and persons whose capacity to exercise
rights was partly or completely taken away, the principle of incompatibility and volunteering free of charge and the
principle of supra-nationality of voluntary work.
The article 2 of the law defines voluntary work as: ˝work that an individual exercise by his proper free will and
without expecting any indirect or direct material rewards for the sole benefit of other or for the general good˝. The
article 7 stipulates as follows: ˝An individual performing voluntary work is a volunteer (hereinafter called: a
volunteer)˝. The article 10 defines as follows: ˝The voluntary organizations are private-law legal persons, registered
as voluntary organizations under article 39 of the present law, whose activity is defined by the law as non-profit and
whose primary activity is not contrary to the definition of volunteering under the article 2 of the present law, that
provide and train volunteers to perform voluntary work or in which voluntary work is exercised for the general
good˝.
6.2 Regulating the issue of volunteering in the EU
6.2.1 Volunteering In Sweden
In Sweden, the volunteering began to develop within the mass movements from the beginning of the former century
that as significant also for the development of a social state and state prosperity. Voluntary work represents an
additional activity that the citizens exercise next to paid work. A typical Swedish volunteer is an active male or
female in the middle of his or hers business career, well educated, originating from a better-of social-economic
environment. He/she has a family and an important social network. The study carried out by CEV in 2005 showed
that no less than half of the Swedish population exercises voluntary work13. Sweden has no law that would directly
define the rights and obligations of a volunteer. The volunteering is referred to in the Unemployed Insurance Law
that states that an unemployed person exercising voluntary work can be taken away the social relief. It is a way for
the Swedish legislator to ensure that the unemployed persons are at all times available to enter the labor market.
6.2.1 Volunteering In Italy
The first form of organized volunteering existed in Italy already in the 13th Century in Tuscany under the name of
»Confraternita di Misericordia«14. The majority of voluntary organizations are mostly active in the field of the
health care and social relief. In the recent years, there is a new form of volunteering that spread over Italy, called
˝personal volunteering ˝ or ˝volontariato personale˝. It is a task that an individual sets for himself and it is performed
in informal groups, without being limited or influenced by anyone. The personal volunteering is expressed by a
modes way of life, ethical expenditures, responsible tourism, critical and responsible use of goods and in the support
of fair trade. This form of volunteering is not an affiliation to a certain group, but the individual’s proper effort and
an expressed socially responsible engagement.
A typical Italian volunteer is an employed man having secondary school education and aged between thirty and
forty-fine years. Women represent 45,6 percent of all volunteers15.
6.2.1 Volunteering In Germany
Traditionally, charitable organizations have integrated volunteers in all fields of their activities. However,
volunteering took place mostly within the framework of the “peak” organizations and became more and more
marginal due to the professionalization of social work since the 1970s. From 1990 onwards, there has been a change
in the understanding of what volunteering means16. Many new organizations and structures have been founded, and
at the same time the traditional “peak” organizations have become more volunteer-oriented again. Today, activities
may be performed in the frame of formal or informal organizations and comprise sports and recreation, culture as
well as self-help, neighborhood activities, and activities in civic action groups. In order to reflect this wide range of
13
Volunteers do as much work as 150.000 paid workers, which equals 2.5 percents of the labor force in Sweden.
Their work evaluated its price would be 10.206 millions of American dollars.
14
A voluntary organization led by the catholic community that also included the work of volunteers.
15
In Italy, 4.1 millions of people are involved in volunteering, which represents 8.4 percents of the entire population
above 13 years of age.
16
Rosenbladt, Bernhard (2000) Volunteering in Germany. Results of the 1999 Representative Survey on
Volunteering and Civic Engagement. Volume 1: General Report. Munich, p.13, p.37.
activities corresponding to the model of a participatory society, the concepts voluntary involvement (freiwilliges
Engagement), and voluntary work or volunteering (Freiwilligenarbeit) have been introduced.
The act for the voluntary service programs (FSJG or FÖJG) states that volunteers enjoy the same legal status as
young people who attend vocational training. During the service period they receive some pocket money, support
for board and accommodation as well. Furthermore, the volunteers are insured against illness and accidents, pension
coverage is contributed and they receive child benefits and child allowances. Apart from the legislation for
voluntary services, there is no national legislation specific to volunteering that covers all the issues related to
volunteering. However, there are:
• Tax regulations for the organizations that enjoy charitable status,
• Tax regulations for individuals or companies that donate either money or ascertained goods,
• Regulations for reimbursement of travel expenses or general regulations for compensation for expanses for
individuals volunteering.
Conclusion
Contrary to consumer mentality, volunteering as well as social responsibility represents modesty and above all they
are generators of new values and initiators of connection of the people in their fight against self isolation and
indifference to other people’s distress. If I resume the words of William Somerset Maugham: ˝From the earliest
times the old have rubbed it into the young that they are wiser than they, and before the young had discovered what
nonsense this was they were old too, and it profited them to carry on the imposture.˝ The volunteering has been
recognized as one of the successful forms that makes it possible to extenuate distress of people and society in the
times of crisis. Today, the positive effects of volunteering are proved with regard to efficiency and economies as
well as they have been realized in many developed countries. Voluntary work is of great significance for the
development and for the future as it contributes to the development of the existing systems, to the development of
values and to social and other development of society. Therefore, the law that is going to define voluntary work in
Slovenia represents a solution to the administration difficulties and a systematic solution to the issue of volunteering
in Slovenia.
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