VOLUNTEERING INFRASTRUCTURE

4. STRUCTURE of the non-profit sectorinvolved in volunteeringSince 2007, the role of a national volunteer centre in Slovakia has been fulfilled by the civicassociation C.A.R.D.O. In 2007, C.A.R.D.O, with the support of the Ministry of Education,launched a project for a virtual national volunteer centre. The web portal www.dobrovolnictvo.sk provides service and information to volunteers and voluntary organisations at local, nationalas well as the international level. It is an important source of contacts, volunteer opportunities,information about volunteering and is a tool allowing the search for partners for cooperation inthe field of volunteering.Among other activities, C.A.R.D.O. continues with the promotion of volunteering in Slovakia.In cooperation with regional volunteer centres, it organised Volunteer Days events, everyyear, since 2009. It has also developed international projects on volunteering, implementedvolunteer programmes in social services, has started a process of building a network of volunteercentres in Slovakia, provided training and consultations to volunteer organisations in the areaof volunteer management and worked on preparation of the legal framework for volunteering inSlovakia.Currently, there are six regional volunteer centres that implement various programmes;however, these are dependent on their own funding sources. The main role of these centresis to match volunteer organisations with volunteers, to promote volunteering, to undertake/participate in research, and to provide training and consultancy for organisations involvingvolunteers. Since 2009, there has been closer cooperation among volunteer centres. They meetregularly three or four times a year and discuss the main issues and steps in the development ofvolunteering in Slovakia. Volunteer centres cooperate closely with volunteer organisations intheir region on common projects and/or volunteer programmes.Until 2011, there was no national umbrella organisation for organisations involved involunteering. There are various Slovak platforms and umbrella organisations, such as theSocioforum for NGOs working in the area of social services, Ekoforum for those working in thearea of environmental protection and MVRO for organisations active in the area of developmentaid.The newlyestablishedPlatform ofVolunteerCentres andOrganisationscreatesa positiveenvironmentwhere volunteercentres andorganisationscan shareand exchangetheir ideas,cooperate oncommon projectsand lobby forcommoninterests.In 2011, there was a significant change in the infrastructure of volunteering in Slovakia. ThePlatform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations was established on 3 August 2011. At thebeginning, the platform was associated with five volunteer centres: C.A.R.D.O. (Bratislava),Centre of Volunteering in Banska Bystrica, Volunteer Centre of Kosice Region, Nitra VolunteerCentre and Presov Volunteer Centre and Volunteer Group Willow that focuses on volunteeringin hospitals and hospices in Slovakia. The Platform was a result of several activities andprocesses that took place over recent years. The non-formal network of volunteer centresthat had already existed since 2009 was officially formalised as the Law on Volunteering wasapproved. It was clear that the law would not support the funding of volunteer centres andvolunteer organisations. Volunteer centres needed to set up the Platform in order to continuewith cooperation with the government once the law was approved.One of the Platform´s goals is to influence the policy towards volunteer centres, to advocatethe interests of volunteer centres and organisations and to increase the number and the quality359 Volunteering infrastructure in Europe 25 Slovakia