The project is called “VolunSailing: supporting the mobility of volunteers in sailing organisations”. It addresses the “supporting the mobility of volunteers, coaches, managers and staff of non-profit sport organisations” topic proposed by the European Commission. The three organisations described in the previous section of the application will work together, creating and developing a transnational network between partners. This will lead to achieving the project’s main aim, which is the creation of international volunteering system manual for sailing organisations, which would include:

• a list of good practices concerning volunteering implemented in all partnering countries,
• a handbook on measurement and communication of the impact of volunteering, stating in detail how to measure the impact of volunteering and how to best promote volunteering in order to raise the public awareness regarding the value that volunteers bring into sport,
• a step-by-step guide of starting volunteering systems that the countries that do not yet conduct this kind of activity could easily get familiar with and implement,
• a set of tips concerning the mobility of sailing volunteers coming from all age groups across different European countries,
• a set of ready-to-use documents needed in starting and building a volunteering system, among which will be:
  • a draft of the agreement between the volunteer and the organisation;
  • a draft of the declaration for the organisation to issue after recruiting a volunteer;
  • a draft of the evaluating questionnaire for the volunteer to fill in in order to evaluate the collaboration with the organisation;
  • a draft of the certificate for the organisation to issue when the collaboration with a volunteer finishes;
  • a set of tips for the person who will coordinate the volunteering system in a given organisation.

The system we will provide will be as complete and ready-to-use as possible. During the dissemination of the project we will encourage different sailing organisations to use the tool we will create. The system will be as versatile as possible so it could be implemented in a small local sport club as well as in a larger organizations, like MNAs (MNA stands for “the Member National Authorities”. These are the principal members of World Sailing and are responsible for the decision making process that governs the sailing world. They are the national governing bodies for the sport of sailing around the world). Some small adjustments might be needed when implementing the tool in different European countries in order to match with the national law regulations, this however will be minimal. The system will be designed and executed as instantly downloadable and implementable. Its outcomes will allow its users to set up a volunteering system and internationalize it by creating opportunities for organisers to mobilize their volunteers. 

Additionally, an online space (namely, a website) for exchanging and accumulating experiences, good practices, methods and activities implemented while carrying out the project will be created to use between partners. Resources and documents accumulated on-line will be accessible publicly once the project ends and is evaluated and disseminated.

The project is designed as previously described in order to fulfil current European policies in the field of sport. First of all, it aims at strengthening social inclusion through sport and improving social cohesion by bringing together representatives of all age groups. We will highly encourage all the organisations affected by our project to enrol representatives of all age groups in their volunteering systems. 

We are positive that the youth can benefit greatly from the outcomes of the project, getting to know the reality of organising professional sailing events. We want to comply with education through sport policy.

However, our “VolunSailing” project is not aimed at mobilising young people to become sailing volunteers. We are aware that the experience of the elderly, who know very well the reality of sailing and sailing events is indispensable in organising professional sailing endeavours. For example, accordingly to the Polish Statistical Office (https://stat.gov.pl/en/) research on volunteering work in Poland done in 2016 (https://stat.gov.pl/obszary-tematyczne/gospodarka-spoleczna-wolontariat/wolontariat-i-praca-niezarobkowa-na-rzecz-innych/wolontariat-w-2016-r-,1,3.html), people over 65 years old are much less likely to enrol in voluntary services than young and middle-aged citizens. Only 26% of all retired people enrol in any kind of volunteering activity. We want to address this case by providing the best possible work conditions for older volunteers. This will be beneficial for partnering organisations, as statistics shows that older candidates tend to spend more time on the volunteering activities overall than younger people. This will also have positive impact on public health and active ageing of the elderly, which are amongst European Council top priorities

During the implementation stage of our “VolunSailing” project we will also be discussing what would be the best way to incorporate people with disabilities into the created volunteering system. This is due to the fact that, for instance, in Poland, statistics show that only 26.3% of people with disabilities tend to enrol in voluntary services. We want to work towards enlarging this number and therefore strengthening social inclusion.

Second of all, our project will comply with the European aim of dissemination of various sport disciplines. We are sure that “VolunSailing” will contribute to promoting sailing as an activity for everyone also at the international level. This is due to the fact that anyone will be encouraged to participate in the volunteering systems that will be set up on the basis of the good practices guide compiled during the project. We will promote employing even those candidates for volunteers who do not have previous sailing experience. The system will be set up in such a manner that would allow to fully educate and equip an employed person, so to say “from scratch”, even if he or she won’t have any previous knowledge or experience.

Third of all, our project is also in line with the improvement of organisational circumstances concerning developing sport in different sailing organizations, an aim that is also recognized in the European sport policies. The fact that the tool developed in this project will be highly systemic and ready-to-use will facilitate the recruitment of volunteers to those organisations that will decide to use our system. And the more involved, committed volunteers MNAs have in their respective organisations the easier it will get to plan and execute different activities and programmes. The higher the success rate of achieving the planned endeavours in MNAs, the better their image in the public eye. It is advisable for sailing organisations to employ volunteers, as, in the long run, it will help them with their public image and increase the efficiency of organised endeavours.

Fourth of all, one of outcomes of the “VolunSailing” project, achieved in the long run (preferably already within the big Collaborative Partnership) will be the creation of the team of international volunteers, qualified and trained for handling international sailing events. This will facilitate organising large international sport events, such as European or World Championships. This, in turn, will lead to promoting the countries hosting these events.

Last, but not least, our project will fulfil the needs concerning voluntary work recognised in he “White paper on Sport” published in 2007 by the Commission of the European Communities (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52007DC0391&from=EN).