Református Szeretetszolgálat

The Diaconal Office is mandated by the Synod of RCH to implement the diaconal service of the Church. Defining the five main tasks as follows: • Treatment and care of the sick; • Treatment, care and support of persons with disabilities, of the elderly, of persons with mental illness and addictions; • Support of lonely, solitary, single persons and children; • Support of socially disadvantaged persons; • Support of socially discriminated persons. The Diaconal Office aims to provide a wide range of support to congregations and diaconal institutions. It offers not only professional and methodological help but assistance in assembling and managing grant applications as well. The Office also deals with adult training programs and voluntary actions as well. The managing director of the office is Balázs Bujdosó. The program manager of the Önkéntes Diakóniai Év Programiroda is Emese Závodi. The Önkéntes Diakóniai Év Programiroda has been performing its duties in the Magyar Református Szeretetszolgálat Alapítvány so far, however, due to a reorganization, ÖDE office will work from Diakonia Office. The number of employees at the ÖDE program office is 3 members. The program manager, Emese Závodi, is a member of the board of the EDYN network and thus gets an insight into the European processes that are important in the field of volunteering and specifically in the field of the ESC program. Two staff members were volunteers themselves. József Bogdán has served in the Netherlands 12 years ago under the EVS program. Zsófia Bress volunteered for the EVS program in England in 2015/16. She has a pedagogical degree and is in the process of pursuing another master's degree in "intercultural psychology and pedagogy". Both professionals have extensive organizing experience in youth work and volunteer projects. Our office is also supported by former volunteers as mentors and helpers. We work together with Eszter Bereczk, a mental health professional, and Ildikó Seres, a Hungarian teacher who holds Hungarian classes for volunteers and has a degree in "Hungarian as a foreign language". The colleagues speak fluent English, German, Italian and Dutch. The organization's accountants and financial experts also assist in the administrative and financial management of the programs. The organization's accountants and financial experts also assist in the administrative and financial management of the programs. The transparency of the economic and financial system is also aided by an online administration system. We have been cooperating with most foreign partners for 23 years under the Erasmus + / ESC program. Most sending/supporting partners have also accredited organizations as receiving partners, so there is mutual cooperation between us, both in terms of receiving and sending. Most of the sending partners are members of the ecumenical network through which we have been receiving and sending volunteers for more than 20 years. This network is the Ecumenical Diaconal Year Network (EDYN). www.edyn.org Within the framework of the network, we also work together in working groups so that we can support volunteers in our quality and be in constant dialogue with each other. Through the EDYN network, we are members of the international volunteer platform based in Brussels, NEVSO (Network of Voluntary Service Organizations). They are mainly lobbying and hold an annual conference on long-term and full-time volunteering. We have been submitting and participating in the European Commission's voluntary programs since 2000, formerly EVS, Erasmus + and the European Solidarity Board. We submitted a successful application to Brussels in 2007, when ÖDE was the coordinating organization with 15 partners. We currently have two ongoing ESC projects with 22 volunteers from nine countries. We also work with a team of mentors consisting of former volunteers, who are given regular opportunities to meet and also take part in trainings. Occasionally, mentors and staff also take part in