Hrvatska volontira (Croatia is volunteering) is the title of the national event taking place eighth year in a row, one week in May, and simultaneously in over 50 local communities in Croatia. Its goal is to promote volunteering and the volunteers’ contribution to building communities while doing something good for themselves. (Not to digress too much, just a reminder that there is plenty of research showing the benefits of volunteering for the volunteers!)

In Hrvatska volontira event in 2017, there were 269 volunteer activities, involving more than 4050 citizens-volunteers, who contributed with more than 15500 volunteer hours! Check out the video here or the website of the event (both in Croatian).

Why we are bringing this up on PYLE site? Well, we are certain that both volunteering and socially responsible autonomous employment are strongly connected with emancipatory learning, and they both balance and join self-awareness and personal development with community needs. The only difference is that volunteering, by definition, goes without financial or material compensation, and autonomous employment seeks to enable the workers to make a living through (as in volunteering) doing the work they enjoy and that contributes to a better, happier world… 🙂

If you normally believe statistics, we’re pleased to inform you that in Croatia there are around 25000 “registered” young volunteers (15 to 30 years old) – every year! All of them come into contact with (hopefully) supportive volunteer coordinators/ mentors, and some of them have found/ will find their opportunities for autonomous employment through or thanks to their volunteering experience. So let’s promote volunteering (this May, too)! 🙂