“Volunteering is putting my talents at the service of the common good! It is to contribute to a fairer and more equitable society!” (Edite Oliveira, coordinator of the Human Development Office)
Aware of its social responsibility in raising awareness and promoting the common good and greater social justice, NOVA has been promoting and supporting (centrally and through its organic units) several activities of volunteering in articulation with other entities directly involved in the exercise of solidarity and citizenship.
The NOVA Voluntariado program allows students, employees and teaching staff of NOVA to have access to enriching volunteer experiences that contribute to the development of a greater social and community conscience, through initiatives that bring the university closer to society, and in the valorization of the participants as persons, through the acquisition and development of personal and social skills. It aims to encompass both short term actions and activities – in more specific needs – and long term activities – on a regular basis according to the needs of the social groups, the areas of intervention of the volunteers and the entities associated to the program.
Volunteering should be done without expecting any contribution in return, however we consider it important for our students to receive recognition for their work through a Diploma with a Mention of Citizenship. All student volunteers are encouraged to elaborate their social CV from the beginning of the volunteering activity.
Objectives
- To optimise volunteering practices at NOVA
- To make the NOVA community aware of the importance of the practice of volunteering
- To create synergies with associations and local entities for the practice of voluntary activities
- To create opportunities for learning and developing technical, scientific and social skills
- To promote differentiated voluntary activities in social, educational, scientific, sports, environmental, cultural, health and leisure components
- To promote cooperation between institutions in order to provide positive and enriching experiences.
How is it like to be a volunteer?
This is the individual who, in a free, disinterested and responsible manner, commits himself, in accordance with his own aptitudes and in his own free time, to carrying out voluntary activities, within the scope of a promoting organization.
The quality of volunteer cannot derive from a subordinate or autonomous work relationship or from any relationship of patrimonial content with the promoting organization, without prejudice to special regimes contained in the Law.
To be a volunteer is:
- Making a commitment to the organization promoting volunteering;
- Developing volunteer actions on behalf of individuals, families and the community;
- To commit yourself, according to your aptitudes and in your free time.
To act as a volunteer is to have an ideal for doing well, which is based on a relationship of solidarity translated into
- Freedom, equality and pluralism in the exercise of an active citizenship;
- Responsibility for the activities you develop with the recipients;
- Participation in the activities to be developed by the promoting organization, within the scope of the Volunteer Program;
- Free exercise of the activity, but without being burdened with the resulting expenses;
- Complementarity with the activities of professionals, without replacing them;
- Convergence and harmonization with the interests of the beneficiaries of the action and with the culture and values of the promoting organizations.
