Training of volunteers for social services as an element of a participatory model of sustainable development paradigm

Ural State University of Economics, 8 Marta Str, 62, 620144 Ekaterinburg, Russia

^* Corresponding author: cmb_8@mail.ru

Abstract

The relevance of the study of the processes of training volunteers working in social service organizations is due to the massive use of labor of non-professional participants to provide social services to needy groups of the population. The purpose of this article is to substantiate a conceptual model for organizing regional systems for vocational training and certification of volunteers in the field of social services. The research was carried out on the basis of studying, summarizing and systematizing scientific literature, regulatory documents, training programs for volunteers, and social service standards. As a method of empirical research, a survey of 54 volunteers in the field of social services was used, which revealed the main issues of training for the subsequent provision of services in the field of social services. A review of theoretical sources identified the characteristics of two approaches to training social service volunteers. The first assumes a hierarchical model with a gradual expansion of a volunteer functions, depending on the training programs completed with the receipt of a attestation certificate. The second model involves the training of volunteers directly at the sites of providing social services with the involvement of students from specialized universities. Empirical research has shown that in Russia, in most cases, the training of volunteers in the field of social services is carried out by specialists from institutions in which volunteer activities are carried out in the form of short-term seminars and an oral survey on the presented material. Consequently, it can be stated that there are no full-fledged systems of professional training and certification of volunteers in the field of social services, the construction methodology of which is considered in the works of a number of foreign authors. The formation of such a system in Russia should become one of the target priorities for the development of the volunteer movement, since the specificity of the problems of social services requires special knowledge, skills and abilities.