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Marina Nikolova

Greece is among the European countries where data on volunteers are almost nonexistent and efforts should be made to establish a legal framework for their labour, to protect them from exploitation and to provide for their health insurance.

The number of volunteers in Europe is about 100 million people or 23% of the population over the age of 15. In Greece, their number is known to be below 10% of the population. Overall, the contribution of the volunteers’ labour to the gross domestic product in European countries varies between 0.1% and 5%. Greece ranks among the countries with volunteers contributing 0.1%, according to the data from the European Commission report for 2010.

Despite the numerous benefits of the work of volunteers it should be noted that there are difficulties associated with the lack of control and information about voluntary organizations and data collection and research, as well as that there is no official recognition of the labour of volunteers and their experiences. Policy proposals in the field of voluntary organizations are associated with the return of money for the expenses of volunteers, preventing them from carrying out health-endangering activities, for example volunteer firefighters, as well as facilitating the international exchange of volunteers.

The volunteer is mostly an active citizen, a member of society who does not only grasp the essence of the problem and does not criticize but also finds the time and the mood to work to solve this problem, said the Vice Minister of Employment Anna Dallara during a press conference in Athens associated with the start of the 2011 European Year of Volunteering Tour dedicated to volunteers.

Various seminars, discussions, presentations and film screenings related to the activities of Greek NGOs will be held in the centrally-located municipal cultural center Technopolis from the 17^th to the 23^rd of February, said Giannis Livanos - general secretary of the volunteers NGO "New Generation". "New Generation" NGO is the coordinator of the event. Livanos noted that the goal is to create a model and way of life for young people linked to their active participation in public affairs.  

The legislative initiative issue related to the work of volunteers is important and health and safety are of great significance, said Minister of Employment Louka Katseli. She announced that three major initiatives are about to be launched by the Ministry of Labour which is responsible for the issues of unpaid labour.

The first programme of the Ministry of Labour is related to the start of the programme for community service which will begin in Central Macedonia and Thrace within weeks, and will be applied subsequently to Attica and Thessaloniki. It is about involving unemployed people in socially useful projects. They will be paid a minimum wage of 625 euros plus health insurance for five months for a period of one year. This will be a programme that will operate in addition to voluntary projects and can be implemented in cooperation with municipalities.

The second project is related to the concept of socially useful companies. In this sense, NGOs in clusters with individuals will be able to develop business. Minister Katseli gave as an example organizations that support people with special needs by making handmade items to sell, thus supporting financially the people with special needs too.

The third initiative of the Ministry of Labour refers to the organizing of local development programmes to support disadvantaged groups.

"The legal framework within which volunteers of the Municipality of Athens will be included will guarantee that they will have health insurance, their personal data will be kept and they will be protected from other risks. On the other hand, it will be necessary to guarantee that the volunteer programme will not endanger the interests of the Municipality of Athens and its citizens," said the Mayor of Athens George Kaminis. The Mayor of Athens said that volunteering was in its heyday in Greece during the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 but it hasn’t evolved subsequently.

"The European Commission intends, through the European Year of Volunteers, to create a favourable environment for the volunteers’ labour, to ensure that good ideas can take place where passion and purposefulness are not stifled by bureaucracy, and the precious time that volunteers offer will not be used aimlessly because of administrative obstacles," said Aris Petroulakis from the European Commission Representation in Greece. "In hospitals, nursing homes, homes for orphans, in times of disaster or on the Internet, wherever we meet volunteers we will do what we have to: we will try to make their lives easier just as they do this for other people because they are the contemporary European heroes," added Petroulakis.