Announcement on the closure of the IAVE Youth Office in Catalonia

Statement from the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) on the IAVE Youth Office in Catalonia (IYOC):

Recent years have seen change on an unprecedented scale for NGOs across the world. With this in mind, IAVE has undergone a strategic planning process and organizational review to ensure all functions of IAVE are meeting the needs of the volunteering community worldwide. Part of this, out of necessity, was to look at how each part of the organization is funded and when committed funding comes to an end

During that review, we looked at the mission and vision of the IAVE Youth Office in Catalonia (IYOC) and assessed the viability of continuing its operations, as its funding was scheduled to end in December 2010.  No further funding was available to continue the office, and as such, the board of IAVE came to the very hard decision to close the IYOC with effect from the end of December 2010.

During the review, we noted the positive difference the office has made to furthering  IAVE’s objectives. We are proud to have worked in partnership with Fundació Catalunya Voluntària and the Government of Catalonia. Together, we were able to move forward the global youth volunteering agenda. 

Some of the IYOC's key achievements included creating an online global network of youth volunteers; further developing and enhancing the IAVE world youth conferences; being a truly global office led by volunteers from many countries; and promoting the youth volunteering agenda to numerous organisations worldwide.

After examining how the youth component of IAVE would look in the future, we believe that an “IAVE Youth” programme component should be defined by the desired outcomes of such an effort, not by physical office space.  

As such we are developing a strategic plan for “IAVE Youth” as an integral program component of IAVE. A small task group, made up of board members, will take this forward and they will report back to the board in November 2011. Part of that process will involve a consultation with key stakeholders. We would welcome young people from throughout the world to be a part of this process.

We have an opportunity to re-define “IAVE Youth” and ensure that we are not restricted by physical boundaries of an office and truly involve young volunteers worldwide in a virtual and inclusive IAVE Youth component.

This process will be led by the two IAVE Youth board members, Daniel Buritica and Mark Molloy. Please contact Daniel (Daniel@iave.org) or Mark (Markmolloy2@gmail.com) if you want to get involved.