Volunteers Program

VOLUNTEERS PROGRAM

KEY STATISTICS

1. The ATHENS 2011 Volunteers Program received, registered and processed 28.262 Application Forms (till 20/6/2011)

2. The period between March 2009 and May 2011 in order to create awareness and promote Volunteering for the Games, the Volunteers Program realized more than 260 presentations and participated in 435 events.

3. In order to assign volunteers to Games FA’s and positions, the Volunteers Program held 6.500 personal interviews, 8.250 telephone interviews and 80 group meetings that were attended by 4.930 volunteers.

4. The volunteers that participated to the General and Specific Training Sessions were more than 13.500

5. At World Games 24.658 volunteers were mobilized, sourced by organized groups and thousands of individuals from Greece and abroad.

6. In Attica participated 19.795 volunteers and 4.863 at the local groups of the “Host Town” program

7. 65% of volunteers were women and 35% men while 4 out of 10 volunteers were between 18 to 30 years old

8. The Volunteers Program of the Special Olympics World Summer Games joined 220 persons with intellectual disability/disability offering valuable services to several FA’s of the Games.

9. More than 850 international volunteers from 45 countries around the world travelled to Greece to participate to the Volunteers and support Special Olympics World Summer Games.

10. Games volunteers it is estimated that offered 720.000 hours of voluntary service, supporting Games (in average) with 8-12 days and 6-8 hours daily of service.

HIGHLIGHTS

1. The honorary signature of the 1ης Application Form from the President of the Hellenic Republic and the support from the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Archbishop of Athens.

2. The cooperation with 22 Heralds of Volunteerism and 4 large voluntary Associations (Hellenic Red Cross, Lyceum Club of Greece, Scouts of Greece, and Guiding Association)

3. The close cooperation with Special Olympics Hellas and the participation of persons with intellectual disability to the Volunteers Program.

4. The Pioneer Volunteers program of 120 volunteers that contributed with excess commitment and enthusiasm the visibility activities and the scope of the Volunteers Program for a period more than 3 years

5. The increased interest for applying to the ATHENS 2011 Volunteers Program from volunteers outside Greece (over 3.500 individuals) and the participation of 850 volunteers from abroad, 480 of which coming from Europe an activity promoted within the framework of the 2011-European Year of Volunteering

6. The groups of volunteers of the Local Organizing Committees of the “Host Town” Program that created and enthusiastic atmosphere all around multiplying the Special Olympics movement message

7. The Volunteers Trainers Training which significantly supported the understanding and preparation of the ATHENS 2011 paid staff with volunteer’s management issues.

8. The 100% coverage of general and specialized volunteer needs of all Games FA’s including 650 Ball/Basket Boys/Girls positions (underaged volunteers) for the sports of tennis, athletics, swimming, volleyball, handball and football as well as their exemplary participation during the Games period

9. The low attrition rate of Games volunteers that in average ranged from 9 to 11% while it is worth mentioning that did not exceed 19% during all the duration period of the event (from the 9 th of June till the 7th of July)

10. According to the results of the evaluation of the Volunteers Program 90% of the Games volunteers is willing to continue to offer volunteer service to Special Olympics Hellas.

FAs MAJOR ISSUES & RECOMMENDATIONS

No Issue Description Recommendation 1 – The Volunteers Management – The Volunteers Management System was not available on time System is necessary to be and was not tailor made to the developed and aligned according Volunteers Program of the to the requirements and needs particular event. of the Volunteers Program of each event 2 – Securing the adequate number of – Intensive and continuous suitable volunteers (general and volunteer sourcing is necessary specialized) for all Games FA’s in order to guarantee the full coverage of the volunteer needs

analysis and secure an extra reserve pool. – The balanced interchange among targeted and general recruitment activities 3 – The successful sensitivity training – The close cooperation with of volunteers focusing to people Special Olympics Hellas, the with intellectual disability and to interaction with Special the messages of Special Olympics Olympics athletes and their support towards the promotion of the Volunteers Program 4 – The correct assignment of – The careful matching of the skills volunteers to positions of and expectations of volunteers volunteer service with the Games FA’s volunteer positions especially during the interviews (personal, telephone, etc) 5 – Significant for all implementation – The intensive and nonstop phases (recruitment, training, retention, motivating and participation, etc) of the recognition activities for the Volunteers Program was keeping service offered by volunteers the attrition rate at a low and – The recruitment and cooperation safe rate with organized groups (schools, companies, associations, army, etc) of volunteers is very helpful towards this direction – The strategic decision of assigning a limited percentage of volunteers over the needs analysis of volunteers of all FA’s

MAJOR ISSUES WITH OTHER FAs

No Issue Description Recommendation 1 – The Volunteers Program is – The intensive mobility of the important to retain a close Volunteers Program needs to cooperation and to make its create awareness towards scope visible to all FA’s from internal publics of the event the planning period and till the – On time communication with Games period (especially with FA’s in order to have a liaison the staff supervising and pass information volunteers) concerning all relevant issues

2 – The efficient planning and the – The creation of suitable tools exact estimation of the needs and proper procedures for the (in numbers and efficient and effective building characteristics) for the Games of the Games volunteers needs volunteers analysis 3 – The resistance and inefficiency – Preparing FA’s tactically of volunteers management by concerning timelines and FA’s after their assignment – other issues concerning the period before and during volunteer groups management the Games (communication means and tools, shift scheduling, training, etc) 4 – Concern for the content and – The close cooperation, support attendance of volunteers and coordination of FA’s during during the Specific the implementation period of Training/Venue Training the Specific Training sessions 5 – Issue resolution during the – Running the Games Volunteers Games period for the Coordination Center in order to volunteers of all FA’s and all centrally supervise, register, Venues resolve and handle all relevant matters. Phone and electronic means are necessary.

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

1.1. Research specifications The evaluation research was conducted during the days of the World Games, namely 26 / 6 - 3 / 7 2011. The Volunteers Program distributed to a random sample of volunteers a questionnaire. A total of 295 answered questionnaires are being analyzed using the statistical program SPSS version 17.0.

1.2. The questionnaire A structured anonymous questionnaire comprising 16 closed questions and four (4) demographic data fields.

1.3. Main results

1.3.1. Sample’s identity The sample consisted of 295 male and female volunteers who participated in the World Games, namely 234 Greeks and 61 volunteers from various foreign countries (women 73.2% and male 25.4%).

1.3.2. The participation in the World Games In the first section of the questionnaire we examined the impact of participation in the Games in the perception and attitude of participants towards people with intellectual disability as well as any voluntary contribution to Special Olympics Hellas.

The vast majority of the volunteers who participated in the Games (82.4%) say that they either improved or changed the attitude and perception of people with intellectual disability. Accordingly, nearly 90% of participants positively evaluate the experience and intends to continue to offer voluntary service at the programs of Special Olympics Hellas (Figure 1).

FIGURE 1: INTENTION TO OFFER VOLUNTARY SERVICE AT SOH

1.3.3. Communication with the Special Olympics Volunteers’ Program In the second section of the questionnaire we wanted to record the experiences of our volunteers by their cooperation with ATHENS 2011 Volunteers Program and their views on the training materials prepared.

The vast majority of the volunteers were very satisfied with their communication with the Volunteers’ Program (84%) and only 15% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with the communication between us (Figure 2).

FIGURE 2: SATISFACTION FROM THE COMMUNICATION WITH THE VOLUNTEERS’ PROGRAM

Furthermore, Games Volunteers surveyed reported at a rate 83.7% satisfied with the General Training and Volunteers’ Training Manual distributed (Figure 3).

FIGURE 3: SATISFACTION FROM GENERAL TRAINING AND TRAINING MANUAL

In the next question we want to evaluate the usefulness the volunteers felt regarding the position they undertook. In general (Figure 4), participants felt very useful (56.4%) in the position taken, rather useful (20.6%), while small was the proportion of those who indicated some useful (15.5%) and not at all useful (7.2%).

FIGURE 4: USEFULNESS REGARDING VOLUNTEER POSITION

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1.4. Evaluation Research (2nd part) After the end of the Games a small, random sample of ten (10) paid staff members of ATHENS 2011 GOC answer three brief questions assessing their experience of working with Games volunteers. In the Annex you can find the relevant assessment form.

1.5. Results The feedback we had from the GOC staff was very positive; they were actually enthusiastic regarding the volunteers of the event. In general, GOC staff found very useful the contribution of volunteers in their respective area of responsibility (85%), while almost 100% of the volunteers were assessed as very friendly, very efficient, consistent on-time service and very cooperative with other Games staff. Furthermore, respondents indicated very satisfied with the cooperation with the Volunteers Program.