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Volunteachers on Duty

Primary GCM Objectives

Secondary GCM Objectives

    2
    19
    22

GCM Guiding Principles*

*All practices are to uphold the ten guiding principles of the GCM. This practice particularly exemplifies these listed principles.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Dates

2019 - Present

Type of practice

Project/Programme

Geographic scope

Country:

Türkiye

Regions:

Asia

Sub Regions:

West Asia

Summary

“Volunteachers on Duty” is an education support program provided by TRC volunteers under the supervision of TRC professionals. The program is implemented in two steps: first, training and selection process of volunteers; second, implementation of academic support activities provided by volunteers for disadvantaged children specifically migrant and refugee children who cannot get help from their families due to the language barrier.  Young adults -Turkish citizens, foreign students or Syrians under Temporary Protection- studying at or graduated from university can apply to the program and take volunteering training which is implemented by TRC professionals. The training includes topics such as communication with children, teamwork, social cohesion, roles and responsibilities within the scope of “Volunteachers on Duty”. After the training and oral interview, the participants who are evaluated as eligible can take part in the program as volunteer teachers. Each volunteer is expected to volunteer at least 12 hours per month in the Community Centre, Child Protection Centre or in Temporary Accommodation Centre located in the city they live in. Each Volunteer Teacher provides a monthly plan and conducts academic support activities accordingly. Meanwhile, TRC professionals conduct identification and referral process and get Turkish and Syrian children, who are enrolled in Turkish public schools and are under the risk of academic failure or dropping out of school, involved to the program. Any disadvantaged children can benefit from the program, there is no distinction among host, migrant or refugee children. Homework support sessions are planned and carried out in line with the demand of children and families. In the sessions/courses, the volunteers are mostly expected to help children in the topics children find it hard to understand or help them to solve the problems or questions they are unable to solve by themselves. By going through the topics in detail, the volunteers help children to be able to do their homework and to solve the questions related to that topic.

Organizations

Main Implementing Organization(s)

Turkish Red Crescent Child Program

Benefit and Impact

Letting migrant children to have the academic support they are in need of, this program allows them to succeed in their classes, to decrease the adaptation problems they face in the school and it prevent them from dropping out school due to the failures in lessons or adaptation problems. The program contributes to wellbeing of migrant children in terms of social cohesion as well. The program contributes to social cohesion as migrant children become more confident at school, the place they interact with their peers the most. Also, since both the volunteers and the beneficiary children can be from different ethnicities and have different cultural backgrounds but keep helping each other, it creates a ground based on trust, faith and amity for both sides. Positive secondary benefit is that the more children faced with women volunteers studying or working in the areas that are generally linked with men the more they become aware of gender roles.

As the Pandemic increased the vulnerability of migrant children, the program was held online with a group of volunteers from İzmir Economy University and children living in Temporary Accommodation Centers located at Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay. This indicate that the program could be implemented with cooperation between different cities, regions or even at an international scale when necessary.

The program has been implemented with 487 volunteer teachers; 11.026 children have benefited from the activities and 50.771 activities/sessions were held with those children. For the program to be effective and to be measured, it is necessary to implement it at least one academic semester. Program is planned to be conducted in more activity areas and with an increased number of volunteers. Moreover, it is planned to disseminate the online version of the program.

Key Lessons

The main challenge faced during the implementation is that there is a high number of both volunteers and children who want to participate to the program. It is hard to meet all the demand due to the constrains in human resources and physical conditions like training venues. In order to face most challenges related to education, an Education Unit has been created within TRC Child Program. In addition, the number of the TRC professionals, -especially “education officers”- and the number of Child Protection Centers has been increased.
Another difficulty faced in the online implementation of the program is that children don’t have necessary tools to join online meetings. It would be a great chance for the children to have a tablet and internet connection; but this need couldn’t be met with the available resources of the Program. This challenge was overcome by gathering beneficiary children to the activity area they are registered but as there is no much computer in each activity area it wasn’t possible to conduct more than one session/course at the same time.
Last but not least, although volunteers work without any financial expectation, some of them have difficulty to afford the transportation costs. After realization of this need and challenge for the volunteers, they have been getting supported for their meal and transportation costs since 2020.
It could be very influential to held different organizations like trips, fun activities or having dinner with the participation of volunteers and TRC professionals; or more importantly, it would be very effective to support volunteers with different trainings, workshops or summer schools. However, since all these cost too much, it becomes hard to help volunteers in improving the professional and personal skills they need.

Recommendations(if the practice is to be replicated)

As the program leads the children to join in an atmosphere where all the children are supported without any discrimination and it supports social cohesion, it would be very helpful for any society with high migrant situations to implement this program. It would be very helpful to announce the program/project through different platforms. Doing the volunteer call through social media will not only increase the visibility of the program, but it will also help to reach more volunteers with various specializations.
It is important for volunteers to know their responsibilities in details. Moreover, efforts to increase awareness on respect to differences is needed for volunteers as they will be working in diverse groups. Child protection risks should be expressed to the volunteers and they should be aware of the risks both the children and themselves could face. This points should be underlined in the trainings given to the volunteers.
All the volunteers should be interviewed after trainings. As working with vulnerable children requires considerations, both volunteers should be made think about this role and professionals should observe and evaluate whether volunteers are eligible to work with children.
It is essential to constitute a compliance mechanism against any possibility of sexual exploitation and abuse of both children and volunteers. The volunteers and beneficiary children should be informed about this mechanism in an appropriate way.

Innovation

The program is innovative in the way it constructs social cohesion and show children and young how they are dependent on each other regardless of their nationality, ethnic or cultural background.
Another important provides alternative ways to struggle with gender based violence and biases toward women. Children can get in contact with well educated women who become role models for them.
The most innovative side of the program lies at its availability to be implemented online. Although the program is designed to be conducted face to face, after the pandemic it became necessary to meet the children and volunteers via online communication tools. Not only it constructed a bridge among the children and volunteers living in different cities it also did created in the children a sense of exploring outside world as they (some of the participant children) normally live in the temporary accommodation camp and do not have enough chance to go outside.
Lastly it provides the Syrian young to get prepared for the university entrance exam for foreign students. Most of the young do not have financial resources to afford the necessary education (extra support from private institutions, teachers) for the university entrance exam. This program provides them academic support they need with volunteer teachers.

Date submitted:

31 January 2022

Disclaimer: The content of this practice reflects the views of the implementers and does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations, the United Nations Network on Migration, and its members.

 

 

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).