VOLUNTEERING INFRASTRUCTURE

associations, a large part acting as branches of their national counterparts. The national andlocal voluntary organisations represent the interests of the communities and the society atlarge and address the needs of almost all social, vulnerable groups, campaign to address socialproblems, issues, public debates and needs. Community/ Committee Volunteerism Councilsperform specific roles in social welfare provision in order to meet the needs of the localcommunities 25 .The official national strategy in relation to volunteering is expressed in various articles of thePancyprian Volunteerism Coordinative Council Law 61(I)/2006 and the respective previouslaw 26 . At the national level, volunteering and voluntary service is promoted through theVolunteer Centres, established by the PVCC under its legal framework.The Cyprus Volunteer Centre, founded in 1991, functions as the coordinative and supportcentre for the promotion of volunteering in Cyprus. The Volunteer Centre is decentralised ineach district of the Republic and functions under the responsibility of the District VolunteerismCoordinative Councils. The Nicosia, Limassol, Larnaca, Paphos, Famagusta and KyreniaVolunteer Centres coordinate, promote, support and facilitate volunteer service, voluntaryprojects and volunteering in general. The Volunteer Centres, overseen by the SteeringCommittee of the Pancyprian Volunteerism Coordinative Council, follow common policyand procedures: identification of social problems and needs, matching of need and demandfor voluntary service, registration of volunteers in the district Volunteer Record, provisionof training and support to registered volunteers, monitoring of the volunteer placements,provision of incentives to volunteers, initiation/implementation of voluntary projects, etc. EachVolunteer Centre administers a local Register of volunteers and follows a common proceduresframework, to safeguard effective volunteer administration and management. From 2010, allVolunteer Centres have upgraded their working procedures through the on-line VolunteeringPortal 27 .The new Volunteering Portal is an internet based software application, which meets all internetsecurity requirements and performs 6 main functions: registration of new volunteers andgroups, registration of the needs of the vulnerable groups, a matching need and demandmechanism, information space, a personal page and an SMS and email reminder mechanism.The Volunteering Portal has greatly improved the Volunteer Centres’ work. It enhances theregistration procedure, the administration, training, monitoring and evaluation of volunteersand has created a more effective and efficient process for matching needs and demands. TheDistrict Volunteerism Coordinative Councils have the data management responsibility of thesoftware and are overseen by the Pancyprian Volunteerism Coordinative Council.The Volunteer Centres have established strong collaboration with most structures of society:voluntary associations, public and private authorities. Many volunteering projects haveresulted from these collaborations such as: volunteering projects for families and individuals,environmental, cultural, humanitarian, community projects, corporate social responsibilityprojects. Collaboration, in national projects, is also initiated and facilitated through the officialCoordinating Volunteering Bodies (The Pancyprian and the District Volunteerism Coordinative25. ommunity/Committee Volunteerism Councils run day-care and after School Day Care programmes for pre-school age and school age children inrural and urban areas, day care centres for old people and people with disabilities and other social programmes of various forms for other social groups26. Pancyprian Welfare Council Law 152/89 [The law has been amended after the introduction of the Pancyprian Volunteerism Coordinative CouncilLaw 61(I)/2006]27. Volunteering Portal (2010) Website: www.ethelontis.net91 Volunteering infrastructure in Europe 6 Cyprus