REQUAPASS: a project to enhance voluntary engagement

Requapass is a project co-sponsored by popular education structures in France and Belgium engaged in the recognition of associations and the enhancement of the paths of volunteers and volunteers who make our territories live.

Through this initiative, the partners wish to strengthen the recognition of citizen engagement and to promote the many skills acquired in the context of volunteer journey.

The project was born in 2018. Over a four-year period, the aim was to create common tools and methods to support, recognize and make associative commitments personal, professional and social.

REQUAPASS received support from the European Regional Development Fund through the cooperation programme Interreg France-Wallonia-Vlaanderen. Around the Maison des Associations de Tourcoing, lead of the project, it brought together the Interphaz association, the House of Participation and Associations of Charleroi and the House of Associations of Roubaix.

Requapass: Three strands to better recognize and value community engagement

The work of Interphaz has been divided into three complementary parts.

Valorizing and recognizing volunteer skills

A real lever of personal, social and professional transformation, volunteering gives all audiences the opportunity to acquire new skills, gain autonomy, make new encounters and flourish. The skills developed within the framework of associative experiments are still too little identified and valued, although they are often relevant, Transferableand useful in many contexts.

The project was thus interested in open recognition of competences, at recognition of achievements and how best value your volunteer journey. It also contributes to the reflection on the certification of skills and validation of voluntary experience, in order to encourage a better integration of associative experience into society.

Train actors and future actors as associations

Despite the existence of many training courses for volunteers, they are still little known and insufficiently recognized. REQUAPASS has made it possible to create different paths to better understand the diversity and challenges of the cross-border community landscape, to put associations at the heart of the ESS and to enable volunteers and future volunteers to follow intercultural, inspiring, qualified and sometimes certifying training.

The project also values the forms ofnon-formal learning andInformal learning developing in the associative life. These experiences encourage the acquisition of citizenship, of behavioural skills and many soft skills sought in personal and professional paths.

Better knowledge of cross-border territory

The third part sought to better understand the dynamics of the cross-border territory in order to highlight the common challenges associated with the qualification of associations. Regular questionnaires, analyses and barometers shed light on cooperation between Belgian and French associations, the trajectories of volunteers and the inclusion of associations in recruitment.

This work also provided an opportunity to examine the links between Volunteerism and employability, Voluntary engagement and professional integrationand the effects of cross-border citizen mobility on the paths of engagement.

The role of Interphaz in the recognition of voluntary skills

Within this project, Interphaz In particular, it coordinated the recognition of volunteer skills component. This work led to the development of the guide « Valuing associative skills ».

This tool provides an overview and reflection on the methods, benchmarks and challenges related to the recognition, accompaniment and certification of competences developed within the framework of a community involvement. It is also a useful resource for anyone wishing to understand how to value an associative experience or highlight skills developed through volunteerism.

Innovative digital tools for volunteers

In parallel, REQUAPASS partners have developed different associative skills recognition tools the diversity of skills acquired by volunteers in Belgium and France.

In partnership with the ID6 team,educational innovationThree digital tools of a new genre have emerged:

• A mini-service game with an associative kermesse for an entry in playful matters;
• A skill card to build a real skills portfolio and to enhance cross-cutting skills, based on the RECTEC benchmark;
• The Open digital badges the development of skills, recognizable on either side of the border.

Used together or separately, with our support or in complete autonomy, these tools enable audiences from a variety of backgrounds to promote their commitment and make the skills acquired in their associative experiences more visible.

A cross-border approach to the recognition of commitment

Because associative engagement must not stop at the border, REQUAPASS has promoted the meeting of the Belgian and French associative actors as well as the exchange of practices between all those interested in the promotion of volunteerism and the recognition of citizen engagement.

The strengths of the project

• A co-ordinated and recognised cross-border approach;
• A new way of recognizing the involvement of volunteers in society;
• A complementary and representative partnership of the voluntary sector, the support and training of project promoters;
• The production of an inventory of initiatives and best practices;
• An advocacy approach to public authorities and employers to move towards better recognition of the voluntary experience and to strengthen theEmployability of volunteers ;
• A contribution to the reflection on the commitment path and the development of lifelong learning.

Find all the results of the project and a new cross-border panorama on the website REQUAPASS.

The project has three main objectives:

• Better recognize the skills developed by volunteers;
• Train and support associative actors;
• Better understanding of the dynamics of the French-Belgian cross-border territory.

It also contributes to the recognition of associations and the development of skills derived fromcommunity involvement.