Role and motivation of volunteers in development projects: A case study of Czech volunteers

Motivation is a key factor influencing an individual to become a volunteer. This study examines the motivation Czech volunteers to work on development projects, based on data obtained from the survey and scientific articles. The survey was conducted on 80 Czech volunteers from various Czech NGOs, 40 out of 80 were volunteers working for Kintari organization in Indonesia. The main motivation for volunteering were divided into five sections according to orientation; altruism, culture, philanthropy, traveling and socializing. Differences were identified among respondents when Kintari volunteers chose culture and travel, which is closely related to their length of stay, while volunteers from other Czech NGOs selected altruism and philanthropy. Subsequently, based on the test of factor analysis (FA) was created a domains consisting of the items questionnaire. In the statistical measurements and indicators were using factor analysis which was deemed appropriate, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which verified the estimate of the level of internal consistency and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measurement to determine the suitability of the selected data. The calculation used t-test for socio-demographic attributes excluded the thesis that females are more altruistically motivated than males. Respondents confirmed altruistic and egoistic gain experience from volunteering, including the development of communication skills, stress management, development of empathic skills, understanding of the local community, opportunities to participate in social events, work in a multicultural team and the ability to be part of social groups. Kintari volunteers cause on the project preferentially associate with opportunities to experience the culture and travel, while other volunteers from the Czech NGOs travelled mainly due to work and own education, which is closely related to the fact that they had more previous experience from other projects. The general rule confirmed that a shorter stay affects more altruism, socialization and desire to travel. As an area of weakness, Kintari volunteers market communication and cooperation with the management organization (missing feedback), and insufficient provision of educational aids