Open Badges demonstrating volunteers’ competencies at the Finnish Red Cross Sole Noranta, Volunteer Training Coordinator at the Finnish Red Cross, speaks about the organisation’s ongoing open badges project. Many volunteers participate in the operation of the Finnish Red Cross, donating their time and skills. In return, they will also learn new skills and competencies. Open badges are an excellent way to reward the volunteers and help them demonstrate their competencies also in their private lives.

1. OPEN BADGES IN FINNISH RED CROSS
Open Badge Factory Webinar on December 10th 2019
• Finnish Red Cross Training System for
Volunteers
• Elements of Training Development
• Competency Development in Finnish
Red Cross
• Why Badges?
• From testing to final procedures
• Testing in progress (Volunteer Trainers)
• Questions to be solved in the near
future

2. FINNISH RED CROSSTRAINING SYSTEM FOR
VOLUNTEERS
Punainen Risti:
”Järjestö-
osaaminen”
SUBSTANCE
=TRAINING
FIELDS
(Modules 100)
RED CROSS
KNOWLEDGE
(Modules 5-10)
INTERACTION
AND GROUP
LEADING
(Modules 10-12)
Volunteering Fields = Training Fields
Trainings: 5000 /
year
Participants: 60 000
/year Volunteering fields:
• First aid
• Psychosocial support
• International Humanitarian Law
• Organization
• Multicultural actions
• Friend service
• Youth work
• Health promotion
• Rescue service
Badges are planned to be based on volunteering
roles in these fields, such as …
• ”Member of a Rescue group”
• ”Contact person for Friend Service”
• ”Youth Club Leader”
• …..
All volunteers …
Principles and
values,
Strategies…
Diversity in volunteering
Safety
Communication…
Specialization in
a particular field

3. Training strategy
and overall
development
Recognizing
skills needed in
volunteering
fields
Training
modules
2-8 hours
Training
administration
and web-course
system
ToT -system
Guidelines and
policies
Recognizing
skills and
competences
earned by
volunteering
ELEMENTS OFTRAINING DEVELOPMENT
Role descriptions and the skills needed in those. To ensure that our ”trtaining
map” meets volunteers needs.
Ensures flexibility and unity when building training
pathways. Skills and competences as a starting point for
planning. Using common tools and frames for planning.
New platforms to be deployed during 2020
To enable basic training for volunteers.
Mutual guidelines, policies, roles, rights and
responsibilities. (A prerequisite for a coherent
and resource efficient system).
For example:
Open Badge system:
Technical management environment exists.
Piloting with the volunteer trainers.
Graphic/visual model designed by Accenture.
External validation of key training programs
2020…

4. 4
COMPETENCY DEVELOPMENT IN FINNISH RED CROSS
TRAINING
ADMINISTRATIO
N AND WEB
COURSE
PLATFORM
DEPLOYMENT
“POP”
BADGES
NATIONAL
INTRODUCTION
…THE FIRST PHASE…
DEFINING
COMPETENCIE
S
WHICH SKILLS, WHICH
COMPETENCIES?
HOW TO BUILD
TRAINING MODULES
AND TRAINING PATHS
BASED ON NEEDED
COMPETENCIES?
WHAT KIND OF BADGES
DO WE CREATE TO
RECOGNIZE THESE?
BADGE
PILOTING
4 BADGES
TO BE
TESTED
CLEAR, FLEXIBLE,
HIGH QUALITY
AND CONSISTENT
EDUCATION
SYSTEM
2019 2020–
1
4
2
5
BADGES IN
VOLUNTEERS
DATA
MANAGEME
NT SYSTEM
“OMA”
3

5. Benefits / Volunteers
• Shows and increases visibility and value of
volunteering
• An easy and modern way to verify the skills
acquired in volunteering to employers or
official educational institutions
• Makes deepening knowledge visible
• Provides opportunities to varying tasks in
our organization
WHY BADGES?
Benefits / Finnish Red Cross
• Reward and motivate volunteers
• To engage volunteers
• Visible and understandable learning
programs and learning goals
• ”Guides” to design compentence-based
training modules and programs

6. FROM TESTING TO FINAL PROCEDURES
6
Pilot
SIVIS STUDY CENTER: BADGES
FOR MEMBER NGO:S
DEPLOYMENT IN FRC ACTION FIELDS?
Volunteer Trainer Patrolling Volunteer
(Festivals)
Contact person for migration
THE FINAL ”BADGE FAMILY” WILL BE CONSTRUCTED WHILE
SETTING THE LEARNING GOALS AND LEARNING PATHWAYS.
Testing:
Collecting Feedback from Volunteers and Staff
members
Finding the ideal process to create and issue
badges
Testing
How do these work for Finnish Red Cross
Volunteers?
Testing
Which are the action fields where we want to
recognize skills and compencies?
How do Badges work as a method to do this?
? ?

7. TESTING IN PROGRESS… Volunteer Trainers´s Badge
Criteria:
ToT training program
(=3 modules)
Training sample
(=2-3 hours)

8. QUESTIONS (TO BE SOLVED IN THE NEAR FUTURE)
• How to convince all actors and stakeholders to ”jump aboard”?
• How to define and prioritize the final key competencies in our organization
since we operate in such a large scale?
• How to ensure the staff members competence to run and manage the
Badge system?
• How to find relevant tools and methods for disseminating and marketing
the system?
• How to find methods and resources to recognize and acknowledge
volunteers previous skills and competences?