State Approach to Volunteers

The diploma thesis "State Approach to Volunteers" deals with the evolution of the state's relationship to voluntary activities in Czech society, with an emphasis on the period since 1989. The starting point is the setting of volunteerism into the context of postindutrial society, which urges us to revise our values orientation, the possibilities of the labour market, our access to life-long education and our level of social cohesion. The essay pays attention to the analysis of the state's approach to the phenomena of volunteerism (in the role of a supporter) and to the resulting position of volunteers in Czech society, stressing the steps that were made to support volunteerism by the state. It analyses the statistical data that deals with the characteristics of organisation, and the projects that have been supported in connection with the Act on Voluntary Service 198/2002. Further, it presents a comparison of the problematic fields of Czech legislation on volunteering with the Polish and Hungarian legislation on volunteering. Finally, it suggests steps and arrangements that could be used in the further support of voluntary activities in the Czech environment