The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unprecedented challenges for the society and created a need for effective volunteer actions. This paper presents a novel online training program for youth volunteers who want to design and implement socially significant projects in the context of the global health crisis. The program is based on the following principles: online dominance, ICT literacy, project-based learning, gerontological and psychotherapeutic knowledge, self-preservation and self-organization skills, emotional and personal support. The program aims to develop a set of volunteer project competences among the participants, such as: problem identification, goal setting, action planning, resource mobilization, teamwork, communication, evaluation, and reflection. The paper describes the content and methods of the program, which include: motivational and organizational techniques, stimulation of project activity, humanistic and interactive approaches. The paper also reports on the experimental testing of the program and the assessment of its effectiveness using the criteria of readiness for volunteer project action. The results show that the program has a positive impact on the participants’ knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values related to volunteer projects. The paper concludes with some implications and recommendations for further research and practice. © 2023 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
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