History association

How everything has started...

At first, we were very sceptical, as we have been addressed by Ms. Dagmar McGill, a president of the international organization Big Brothers Big Sisters International, and offered the possibility to establish a voluntary programme in the Czech Republic before 1996. We could not imagine that in that time of a newly developing society could be found a place for any voluntary activity. We were afraid, we will not be able to find any volunteers and, in case we will, the volunteers will be “somehow weird”, the public will look down on them, the programme will not be viable in the long–term and so on.

We were thus very sceptical. On the other hand, it seemed to us that if the programme works in other countries, then why not in the Czech Republic, and so we started to choose and train volunteers. At first, the programme was coordinated by the organization Open Society Found and, since 1998, by the civil association HESTIA – the national volunteer centre.

After the first scepticism, we found out that the volunteers who have signed for the programme are mostly pleasant young people, usually university students, who have undergone our quite hard training with enthusiasm, willingly let themselves be tested, and have perceived a friendly relationship with a chosen child as inspiring and enjoyable.

National Association of Volunteering
The Journey of the Association Over Time

1996
The foundations of professionally managed volunteering in the Czech Republic were laid – the organization Hestia introduced the concept of the "Five P Program."

2001
The Association of Five Ps in the Czech Republic was established and became a member of Big Brothers Big Sisters International in September.
"The Five P Program was already operating in 12 locations across the country, so it was necessary to coordinate it in a way that would allow us, for example, to act as a partner for the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs or communicate externally with international organizations." – PhDr. Olga Sozanská

2004
The evaluation method for the Five P Program was adapted to Czech sociocultural conditions.
The first quality audits of the Five P Program were conducted.

2006
The Association of Five Ps in the Czech Republic took over the Kroměříž-based organization Spektrum, establishing a national coordination center.
"It was a time of national and international conferences and the development of good collaborative relationships." – PhDr. Dagmar Cruzová

2008
The Five P Program had already supported 2,000 children.

2009
The beginning of an international comparative study on mentoring in the Big Brothers Big Sisters/Five P Program in Ireland and the Czech Republic, under the auspices of UNESCO's Research Center for Families and Children (2009–2013).
The Ethical Code for Five Ps/BBBS Coordinators was approved.

2010
A total of 21 members.

2011
The first extensive statistical analysis of the effectiveness of the Five P Program in the Czech Republic.

2012
The "anthem" of the Five P Program was created.

2015
In October, the association was renamed the Association of Volunteer Mentoring Programs.
The Mentoring Evaluation Method (evaluation of the Five P Program) was developed.
The Five P Program had already supported 3,000 children.
"Mentoring programs gradually spread across the Czech Republic. As the programs evolved, it became necessary to unify them under a common name, leading to the establishment of the Association of Volunteer Mentoring Programs." – PhDr. Jiří Tošner

2017
Membership expanded to include members outside the Five P Program.

2018
The Manual for the Big Brothers Big Sisters/Five Ps Volunteer Mentoring Program was published.
The association transformed into the National Association of Volunteering (NAD), z. s.

2019
New projects were implemented to support the expansion and education of the membership base, funded by the Operational Programme Employment (OPZ) and the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic.
A new NAD logo and visual identity were introduced.

2020
The year of the Covid-19 pandemic: NAD served as a supportive and methodological partner for its members.
Became a member of Volonteurope.
NAD represented 34 member organizations.

2021
Digitalization and education of the membership base.
Interest in membership continued to grow.
The Five P Program had supported 3,624 children since its inception.

2022
The position of executive director was created.
Support for the membership base was funded by the Office of the Government of the Czech Republic.

2023
Professionalization of NAD financially supported by OPZ+.
International collaboration within the Erasmus+ program.

2024
Pilot training of Service Learning method multipliers in the Czech Republic.

"Volunteering suits everyone." – Mgr. Lenka Vonka Černá