19.04.2017, Saint-Petersburg: Within the framework of the Hermitage volunteers’ activities, a tutorial dedicated to the platform «Russian volunteers» took place on 19th April. In «Russian volunteers» the user can find updated news about volunteering communities. Artem Metelev, co-president of the Association of the Volunteering Centre, presented the new chances which this portal can offer to the volunteers. During the tutorial the participants asked questions to which Artem exhaustively answered. Since one of the questions was related to the modality of the registration on the website, Artem made a sample registration. He tried to register the Hermitage volunteer service’s director Mikhail Kozhuchovskij but he did not manage to do it. So the portal creators will still have to work on the registration process and develop its functionalities.
Among the different topics, some ideas about collaboration between volunteers and Russian organizations have been discussed. It is possible to register onto the platform both as a volunteer and as an organization by filling in a questionnaire, or through «Vk.com» or «FB.com». This platform will work as a social network for volunteers. It will be possible to find all the information about volunteers and about the projects started by different volunteering organizations. By accessing the page of an organization, any volunteer will be able to find all the information about the events and about volunteering opportunities. Through the function «search» it is also possible to see in which organizations the volunteering events will take place, in which period and in which Russian region.
The Hermitage volunteers were delighted when the project «Tour de France. 1717», which they are working on, was mentioned. Besides, the tutorial organizers explained how the experience gained in different fields by volunteers will help them enter any university and at the workplace.
Another interesting topic discussed during the tutorial was that of e-books, which every volunteer, who registered onto the website, will be given. All useful information about the projects the volunteers took part in will be made available in e-book form . It will be possible to read through, write down, print your own e-book and show it to the university you want to get in or at your workplace. A video-rating will help calculate how many hours a volunteer dedicated to the organization of a specific event. The organizations will have their own rating as well, making it easier for volunteers to choose the projects they are interested in the most. At the moment the federal institutions are discussing how to improve communication and cooperation between volunteers and organizations.
Although the system is already working, there is still much to tackle. The platform will be used by Hermitage volunteers who will have the chance to both reply to existing vacancy notices and offer their help proactively. This will improve mutual cooperation and the sharing of human and educational resources.