Stop Loneliness- Start Volunteering

This questionnaire is aimed at research for our Erasmus+ project ‘Stop Loneliness, Start Volunteering’.

The project addresses the rising issue of loneliness, exclusion and isolation amongst youth and emphasizes the role of volunteering as a way to combat this as well as other challenges that may arise.

The project is directed by Slovene Philanthropy (Slovenia) in partnership with Volunteer Ireland, Centre for European Volunteering (Belgium), FriSe (Denmark), e.p.a. (Germany) and DKolektiv – organisation for social development (Croatia).

The purpose of this research is to:

Collect information on existing and potential future volunteer programmes that support young people facing loneliness, exclusion, or isolation.
Research the capacities of organisations to develop quality volunteer programmes combating loneliness, exclusion, or isolation.
Research the preconditions and support needed to establish and develop such volunteer programmes.

This questionnaire is intended for volunteering involving organisations that engage youth or work directly with youth as well as youth organisations, volunteer centres and other supporting networks and organisations.

Your participation is confidential and the responses you provide will remain anonymous. The outcomes of the questionnaire will be published in the final research report and will be available online across the European Union.

It only takes up to 10 minutes to fill out the questionnaire.
Thank you for your time and willingness to participate in our research, your experience and opinion are very valuable to us.

For any additional information regarding the questionnaire or the research, feel free to contact us via email: vicki@volunteer.ie

The deadline for completion of the questionnaire is 2nd September 2022.

Thank you!

Stuart Garland (He/Him)

Learning and Capacity Building Manager

Volunteer Ireland

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* 1. What is the name of your organisation? - Optional

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* 2. What is your primary field of work? - You may choose more than one.

Social activity/work

Humanitarian work

Health care

Sports

Political, democracy, active citizenship

Spirituality, religion

Culture & Art

Human rights

Education/Science/Research

Sustainable Development

Volunteering with technology- (E.g. model making, digital, technological, computer learning, robotics etc.

Environmental protection & nature conservation, climate change activism

Agriculture

Civil protection and disaster relief

Youth work

Other (please specify)

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* 3. What are your primary activities? - You may choose multiple answers.

Social care or activities

Café or drop-in centre

Mentor, visit friend, adult friend, peer to peer

Homework support, learning assistant

Store, sales, thrift shop

Counselling or empowerment

Manual work or handcraft

Events

Education, training, workshops

Community building

Advocacy, lobbying

Other (please specify)

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* 4. How many paid employees does your organisation currently have?

1-2

3-4

5-6

7-8

9 and above

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* 5. How many volunteers does your organisation currently have?

1-10

11-20

21-50

51-100

101-150

151-200

More than 200

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* 6. How many young volunteers does your organisation currently have?

1-10

11-20

21-50

51-100

101-150

151-200

More than 200

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* 7. Does your organisation conduct volunteer programmes or activities to support people facing loneliness or isolation?

Yes

No - but we are thinking about developing these programmes or activities

No - If this is your answer please go to Question 9

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* 8. Please describe in a few sentences your existing programmes or activities, or those you are planning to run, to support youths facing loneliness, exclusion or isolation.

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* 9. What kind of support would your organisation need to develop or improve a programme or activities towards combatting loneliness and isolation amongst young people? - You may choose multiple answers.

Knowledge and skills for adapting or implementing new activities for youth affected by loneliness and isolation

Knowledge and skills about finding and recruiting young people affected by loneliness and isolation

General knowledge and information on the issues of loneliness and isolation amongst youth

Examples of good practice and exchange of information with other volunteer managers/organisations/networks

Professional support of other experienced or skilled organisations (mentoring)

Support from local/regional/national government in the area in which your organisation operates

We do not need additional support and/or we can rely on our own organisational resources

Other (please specify)

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* 10. In Ireland, to what extent do the below help to create an enabling environment where organisations can develop and implement programmes and or activities that are geared towards combating loneliness, isolation and exclusion of youth?

	Poor	Fair	Good	Very Good	Excellent
Legal Framework	Legal Framework Poor	Legal Framework Fair	Legal Framework Good	Legal Framework Very Good	Legal Framework Excellent
Public Policy	Public Policy Poor	Public Policy Fair	Public Policy Good	Public Policy Very Good	Public Policy Excellent
Existing Good Practice	Existing Good Practice Poor	Existing Good Practice Fair	Existing Good Practice Good	Existing Good Practice Very Good	Existing Good Practice Excellent
Social Atmosphere/feeling	Social Atmosphere/feeling Poor	Social Atmosphere/feeling Fair	Social Atmosphere/feeling Good	Social Atmosphere/feeling Very Good	Social Atmosphere/feeling Excellent
Culture of Volunteering	Culture of Volunteering Poor	Culture of Volunteering Fair	Culture of Volunteering Good	Culture of Volunteering Very Good	Culture of Volunteering Excellent

Question Title

* 11. Have you ever involved young people affected by loneliness and isolation as volunteers?

Yes

We are unsure or not aware if we have

No but we are considering it - If this is your answer go to Q 14

No and we are not considering it- If this is your answer go to Q 14

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* 12. In your opinion, which statements below best describe the effects or the value for the young volunteers that have been dealing with loneliness and isolation? You may choose more than one example.

Volunteering helped them overcome the feelings of loneliness and isolation

Volunteering had positive effects on their mental health or overall personal well-being

Volunteering was a good way to connect with others and helped expand their social network

Volunteering helped to build self-esteem and self-confidence

Volunteering brought more balance in their daily activities or provided a new purpose in their lives

Volunteering was a bridge to reconnect with the community

Volunteering had a negative/overwhelming/disruptive effect

Other (please specify)

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* 13. If you would like to, we invite you to share a positive quote or a statement of the value of being a volunteer by a young volunteer dealing with loneliness and isolation. (Optional question, open ended, max. 150 words)

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* 14. Based on the experiences of your organisation, please indicate which of the following statements best relate to involving volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation. You may choose more than one example.

Coordinating volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation takes more time

Coordinating volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation is more complicated due to the longer time period required for volunteers to feel confident and secure in their role

Volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation need more personal support

Additional knowledge and comprehensive understanding of the effects of loneliness and isolation is required to work with them as volunteers

A lot of effort needs to be invested in motivating volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation

We had to adapt some volunteer activities to make them suitable for volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation

We didn't have to take special care of volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation or do any adjustments in our volunteer programme or activities

Other (please specify)

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* 15. What do you find to be the main obstacles for implementing or developing a volunteer programme combating youth loneliness and isolation or to involve young volunteers dealing with loneliness and isolation? You may choose more than one example.

Insufficient organisational capacity

We do not have sufficient knowledge and competences to work with youth affected by loneliness and isolation

We do not have enough resources (human, financial) to adapt the activities and volunteer programme to involve youth affected by loneliness and isolation

Previous bad experiences

Volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation demand more resources than they can give

Volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation are too vulnerable for our type of activities

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we were unable to maintain any of our activities involving volunteers.

Our beneficiaries come from different vulnerable groups, and we find our activities inappropriate for involving young volunteers affected by loneliness and isolation

We do not recognize any of the obstacles within our organisation

Other (please specify)

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* 16. Where do you think you could seek support relevant for developing volunteer programmes towards combating youth loneliness and isolation or to involve young volunteers dealing with loneliness and isolation? You may choose more than one example.

Organisations with a specific focus on loneliness and isolation, mental health issues, etc.

National/local volunteer centres or networks

Youth organisations

Another volunteer involving organisation

Other (please specify)

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* 17. What role does civil society play or should play in combating loneliness and isolation amongst youth in general? You may choose more than one example.

Providing support (counselling, advising, support groups) in combating youth loneliness and isolation

Sustained reciprocal cooperation with other sectors (e.g. referring youth that need professional help to health professionals and vice versa)

Providing meaningful and inclusive engagement to youth affected by loneliness and isolation

Creating and supporting a sense of community

Providing prevention programmes

Raising awareness through campaigns that reduce stigmatization of young people facing loneliness and isolation

Providing knowledge on the topics of youth loneliness and isolation through education and trainings

Advocating for the development of an enabling environment that supports volunteer programmes that involve youth affected by loneliness and isolation

Other (please specify)

Thank you for taking the time to complete this survey. Your feedback is important to us. Please click HERE if you would like more information about this or any of our other European projects.