MUNICIPAL PROGRAM OF INTERNACIONAL VOLUNTEERING

The municipal international volunteering program aims to

provide foreigners living in Belo Horizonte with the

opportunity to get to know the public policy implemented by

the municipality of Belo Horizonte.

The volunteers participate in the everyday life of the areas of

the direct administration of the city, where they can acquire

and exchange new experiences and knowledge. Furthermore,

they contribute to the process of internationalization of the

city of Belo Horizonte.

THE PROGRAM

LEI Nº 10.234, DE 1º DE AGOSTO DE 2011

Institui, no âmbito do Município de Belo Horizonte, a

Política Municipal do Voluntariado e exercício de

cidadania e dá outras providências.

O Povo do Município de Belo Horizonte, por seus

representantes, decreta e eu sanciono a seguinte Lei:

Art. 1º - Fica instituída a Política Municipal do

Voluntariado e exercício de cidadania, destinada a

preparar cidadãos e instituições para a prática do

voluntariado e exercício de consciência cívica.

Art. 2º - São objetivos da Política Municipal do

Voluntariado e exercício de cidadania:

I - capacitar os cidadãos, gestores, lideranças locais e

entidades do Terceiro Setor que acolhem voluntários

ou desenvolve atividades de voluntariado;

II - articular os poderes do Estado, entidades do

Terceiro Setor, empresários e sociedade civil para a

realização das políticas públicas voltadas para o

voluntariado;

III - garantir a participação das secretarias do

Município e demais órgãos do Município na prática

do voluntariado.

Art. 3º - São diretrizes da Política Municipal do

Voluntariado e exercício de cidadania:

I - a prática do voluntariado como exercício de

cidadania;

II - o fortalecimento das entidades do terceiro setor;

III - o incentivo para as empresas e órgãos públicos

em ações de voluntariado.

Art. 4º - Para o cumprimento dos objetivos da

Política Municipal do Voluntariado e exercício de

cidadania, caberá ao Município, por meio da

Secretaria Municipal Adjunta de Direitos de

Cidadania - SMADC -, tendo em vista que essa

Secretaria possui, como um dos seus eixos, a

Educação Política em Direitos Humanos e

Cidadania, as seguintes atribuições:

I - desenvolver cursos e mecanismos de

preparação de voluntários e entidades;

II - realizar parcerias com universidades,

instituições de ensino e conselhos de classe;

III - realizar conferências, seminários, fóruns e

debates sobre o assunto.

Parágrafo único - A forma de cumprimento dos

objetivos da Política Municipal do Voluntariado e

exercício da cidadania será definida entre os

órgãos executores da política e os órgãos

governamentais de cada área específica, a

iniciativa privada e o terceiro setor.

Art. 5º - As despesas decorrentes da execução

desta Lei correrão por conta de dotações

orçamentárias próprias, suplementadas, se

necessário.

Art. 6º - O Poder Executivo regulamentará esta

Lei, no que couber, no prazo de 90 (noventa) dias,

contado da data de sua publicação.

Art. 7º - Esta Lei entra em vigor na data de sua

publicação.

Belo Horizonte, 1º de agosto de 2011

CONTEXT

AGOSTO 2011 | O Município de Belo Horizonte instituiu a Política Municipal do

Voluntariado por meio da Lei Municipal de nº10.234.

AIMS

GENERAL AIMS

The program offers voluntary practical trainings to

foreigners in the municipal public agencies of

administration by forming partnerships between the

municipality of Belo Horizonte and institutions of higher

education, organizations of the private sector and of

the national and international civil society.

SPECIFIC AIMS

Enable an exchange of experiences and ideas between

the students and the institutions;

Develop partnerships abroad to corroborate the

process of internationalization of the city;

Promote the scientific production based on practical

experiences and previously acquired professional

knowledge and skills.

EXPECTED RESULTS

Cultural exchange and exchange of knowledge between

the foreign volunteers and the municipal employees;

Development of the volunteers´ skills and specific

competences, according to the different professional

areas and the acquired knowledge, creating,

simultaneously, gains for the municipality and the

partner institutions of education;

Development, support and production of academic

publications in view of bringing the academy and the

public municipal administration nearer;

Establishment of national and international partnerships

with institutions of academic education, of the private

sector and with organizations of the civil population;

Disclosure of the public policies of Belo Horizonte in

foreign countries and inclusion of the city in the

international circuit of volunteering managed by

international institutions such as the United Nations and

transnational non-governmental organizations .

TIMELINE

PHASE I

Opening of the application process to the partner

universities.

The announcement happens via e-mail and also in

welcoming events to exchange students organized by the

universities.

PHASE II

Collection of the applications

Selection of the curriculums, interviews and selection of the

candidates.

PHASE III

Articulation between the municipal agencies for the

inclusion of the volunteer in the team of collaborators:

(1) Identification of the voluntary work supervisors. Every

volunteer´s work will be directed by a supervisor who

always will be a municipal civil servant of the

municipality of Belo Horizonte.

(2) Signature of the voluntary service adhesion terms

TIMELINE

PHASE IV

Beginning of the activities

The volunteer is integrated into a project in one sector of

the public administration. Thereby, one promotes his

capacity of information absorption and the control of what

he intends to execute. During the execution of the work,

the volunteer will produce a academic article at most 10

pages about the project/ area in which he is involved.

PHASE V

Presentation of the results

A workshop will be organized at the end of every semester

to offer to the volunteers the opportunity to present their

experiences to the population and employees of the

municipality.

PHASE VI

Delivery of the certificates

After finishing the voluntary service the participants will

receive the title “Ambassador of Belo Horizonte” with the

objective of stimulate the exchange of experiences and

public practices. The volunteers will become key points in

the interaction between Belo Horizonte and their original

cities. They can present their experiences to the

municipality of their cities, helping in the creation of an

informal network among the cities and establishing an

exchange of practices in public policy.

METHODOLOGY

ADHESION TERM

The voluntary service starts with the signature of the “Adhesion

Term of the Voluntary Service” which has to include the rights

and duties of the volunteer and the municipality. Furthermore,

it should include a working plan, a timetable of the working

hours and the duration of the practical training – all these

details are individual.

This adhesion term doesn´t have a labour character and is

protected by the municipal law nº 10.234 of the 1st of August of

2011 and in the case of exchange students of an academic

educational institution are as well protected by the federal law

nº 8.859 of the 23rd of March of 1994 that “disposes of the

practical trainings of students of academic educational

establishments and of second-degree professional education,

basic education for adults and other precautions.”

The requirements for the signature of the term of adhesion are

the following ones: possession of a visa valid for a stay in Brazil

during the time of the execution of the voluntary work and a

current life insurance policy.

METHODOLOGY Working plan

WORKING PLAN AND DURATION

The working hours of the volunteer service may vary

between 12 and 20 hours per week, and the predicted

duration varies between 3 and 6 months.

The activities of the volunteer service have to reconcile the

student´s schedule of his academic activities with the

working hours of the practical training to fulfil the

conditions.

During university vacation time, the working time of the

volunteer service can be accorded between the volunteer

and the supervisor.

The determination of the schedule for the volunteer

service is flexible and the volunteer has the total liberty to

choose it concerted with his supervisor.

METHODOLOGY Working plan

WORKING PLAN

The volunteer´s working plan is elaborated by the

supervisor and has to agree with the duties that the

volunteer assumes in the area of the specific project in

which he is involved.

The working plan considers as well the working hours and

the duration of the volunteer service. This will be

contained and agreed in the term of adhesion.

Furthermore, the working plan contains the description of

the activities that have to be developed very well, and it

contains the locations where the activities take place. The

working plan possesses a pedagogical character and has

to be developed in the way that the volunteer knows the

historical and the actual practical training and that he gets

an idea of the future of the project in which he is involved.

FINAL ARTICLE

The academic articles will be written during the period of

the volunteer service with the help of the coordinator and

under the management of one teacher or of one

postgraduate or doctor student, who is also a volunteer.

The articles should not exceed 10 pages and are going to

be sent to the partner universities, the articles are going

to be published in the internet.

Other possibilities of publication can be considered as

well, for example in special editions of magazines or in

newspapers through the formation of partnerships.

METHODOLOGY Final article

PILOT VERSION

Between September and December 2011 a pilot version

of the volunteer service project was realized. 7 foreign

volunteers participated in this first version and had the

opportunity to participate in the administration of the

public policy in the whole city.

The sectors of the City Hall that were involved were the

following: the municipal secretaries of education,

health, environment and social policies; the secretary of

women´s rights and the committee for climatic change

and eco-efficiency. Furthermore, the municipal

secretaries of international relations and human

resources.

PILOT VERSION Evaluation

An analytical questionnaire was proposed to the

involved supervisors to evaluate the process, to

understand the challenges and to diagnose the positive

and negative aspects. The results of the research

indicated that:

60 % evaluated the inclusion process of the foreign

volunteers as very good.

100% evaluated the program as positive.

100% said that they felt very comfortable with

coordinating a foreign volunteer.

PILOT VERSION Evidences

“When I heard about the idea of becoming

part of the Volunteering, I thought that it

would be really cool, a very good

experience for my education. I met great

people and I am grateful for everything. I

think that everybody who has this

opportunity should take it.”

María Daniela, Argentine, Law student -

UFMG

“As foreigners we do have restrictions in

gaining work experiences or practical

training. This is why the International

Volunteering Program came as an ideal

mechanism to get to know the practical

part of how to interact with the city and to

get to know what is going on in the city in

my area of studies.”

Luis Alejandro, Venezuelan, Master in

International Relations - PUC-Minas

COLLABORATIONS

The “Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais”

(UFMG) is one of the most prestigious

universities in Brazil. It is the biggest university

in the state of Minas Gerais, and has campi in

the city of Belo Horizonte and in Montes

Claros. It develops programs and projects of

education in the levels of graduation and

post-graduation, research and extension,

offering activities in presence and in distance

in eight areas of knowledge.

The “Pontifíca Universidade Católica de

Minas Gerais” (PUC Minas) is a private and

catholic Brazilian institution of superior

education, that is situated in Belo Horizonte.

The university, founded in 1958, is the biggest

catholic university in the world and one of the

most prestigious Brazilian universities, as well

present in the ranking of the best Latin-

American universities “QS World University

Rankings”.

SUPPORT

SECRETARIA MUNICIPAL ADJUNTA DE RELAÇÕES INTERNACIONAIS

SECRETARIA MUNICIPAL ADJUNTA DE RECURSOS HUMANOS

PROGRAMA MUNICIPAL DE VOLUNTARIADO INTERNACIONAL

Av. Álvares Cabral, nº 200, 11º andar – Centro CEP: 30170-000, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil

Prefeitura de Belo Horizonte

aainter@pbh.gov.br

Telefone: +55 (31) 3246-0027

Fax: +55 (31) 3246-0033