In the period from 23 to 25 April 2021, a seminar was held for volunteers, contact persons, representatives of educational institutions. The first day was aimed at getting to know the participants, because the seminar was attended by new people who are just starting their volunteering mission in WWB. There were also representatives of educational institutions from different regions. In the second part of the first day, the participants of the seminar were familiarized with the WWB policy of protecting the rights of children. The participants raised questions about how to exercise children’s rights when working with teenagers of target group and how to react and act if children's rights are violated.
On the second day, all the participants of the event were divided into 7 groups, each of which was supposed to acquaint all other participants with the activities that they are engaged in. For example, employees of closed type institutions talked about a support group, employees of schools and social-pedagogical centers talked about working with adolescents in their regions, contact persons who have been part of the organization activities for many years talked about the “Contact person” model of work. The exchange of experience between the participants showed a very good result, since everyone performs their duties in providing assistance to adolescents, yet they do not always know exactly what their roles are and when they interconnect. After the presentation of each group, the results of the work at all levels were summed up: the work of school representatives, the work of educational institutions, the involvement of social-pedagogical centers, interaction with contact persons, leaving the institution and continuing to work with the teenager. It was important that everyone not only learned about each other's work, but also fully understood the specifics of their activities.
In the afternoon, an updated model of the “Contact Person” work was presented, the creation of a support group in each institution, its functionality. The final part of the second day the representatives of each of the institution talked about why the updated “Contact person” model of work is important and useful. They also discussed the following topics: what are the pros and cons for working with teenagers at different stages, why the interaction of the social-pedagogical centers and closed institutions is important, how volunteers and contact persons can be useful for educational institutions. They noted the importance of the updated “Contact person” model for each target group.
On the last day, the results of not only the entire seminar were summed up, but also the work of the support group, the updating of the “Contact person” model of work, which appeared new and useful in work. All participants were especially interested in the work of social-pedagogical centers and cooperation with them. Specialists from social-pedagogical centers shared their experience as well as forms and methods of working with adolescents in conflict with the law.
Volunteers who have been contributing to the life of the organization for many years were awarded certificates and “WWB Volunteer” badges.