April 2007

IN THIS ISSUE

  • Special Notes
  • From the IAVE Board of Directors
  • Details Announced for 2007 Asia-Pacific Conference
  • Preparations Underway for the 20th World Conference
  • In Memoriam
  • Mafanikio Community Based Organization (Kenya)
  • From IAVE’s Vice-President
  • “I-Volunteer” Project Launched in Taiwan
  • Volunteer Opportunities in Cameroon
  • Volunteering Queensland Celebrates Its 25th Anniversary
  • Civicus Announces Awards
  • The Calendar

SPECIAL NOTES

Did you get your E-IAVE in March?  Several people have written to say that they did not.  We apologize if you didn’t.  Please know that every issue of E-IAVE is available at www.iave.org in the “Resources” section.  We post them at the same time that they are sent by email, in the third or fourth week of each month.  So, if your E-IAVE doesn’t arrive some month, please go to the web site to read it.  And…if it doesn’t come to you by email, please let us know at membership@iave.org so we can solve the problem.  Thanks!

IAVE’s new website needs your support to help add to the new sections and functions now available.  As well as the familiar news and resources pages, the new iave.org website has spaces for articles, events and forums, in addition to specialist areas for IAVE’s youth network, volunteer centers, national representatives, and the Global Corporate Volunteer Council.  If you have any resources, opportunities, news, articles, or upcoming events you would like to share with other users of the site, or if you would like to volunteer to translate key information for non-English readers, please contact Anthony Carlisle at the IAVE International Resources Center (info@iave.org).

FROM THE IAVE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

IAVE EUROPEAN REGIONAL CONFERENCE 2007

[Colette Robert, IAVE Regional Board Member for Europe, writes this month on the joint IAVE-CEV meeting held in Paris in March.]

As a link with a first experience in Moscow in 1993 (where the IAVE Board meeting also took place) the IAVE European Regional Conference occurred at the same time as the General Assembly of the European Volunteer Centre . Both meetings were held in Paris, March 22-23, 2007, hosted by France Bénévolat.  100 persons  attended this meeting

Liz Burns, busy in Panama preparing the next World Volunteer Conference, sent us a message with her best wishes for a successful meeting

The first day was devoted to the two statutory assemblies of the CEV and the IAVE.
Concerning IAVE, the meeting dealt with:

   • general information about IAVE concerning its philosophy, its actions, its goals, underlining the importance of being a member of this association allowing regular information about demonstrations  and experiences all around the world thanks to its resource centre;

   • news from the International Conference in 2006 at New Delhi and the next one to be held in 2008 in Panama, by Colette Robert, representing Europe on the IAVE board;

   • a bird’s eye view on the world network of the national volunteer centres by Kylee Bates coming straight from Australia and representing Sha Cordingley, a board member for Asia-Pacific region and in charge of the world national  volunteer centres network;

   • an information given by Mahandrenath Busgopaul and Vitalis Anopoue about the regional meeting that they plan to organize in December 2007 in Mauritius. They came to Paris to know how organize such a meeting.

The next day, the Conference  dealt with the common subject to all our countries, ”Volunteering, a Route (Back) to Employment,” and heard the introductory reports and the workshops attended by different stakeholders, the research, the experiences and the good practices applied in several European countries (France, Great Britain, Spain, Germany, Croatia) and in Mauritius) to contribute to the struggle against unemployment thanks to volunteering.

The day ended with a friendly dinner at the Eiffel Tower. This was a pleasant way to allow everybody to have friendship as well as work relations throughout Europe and even Africa, for the greatest benefit of volunteering and volunteers willing to defend and promote employment.

Colette

DETAILS ANNOUNCED FOR 2007 ASIA-PACIFIC REGIONAL CONFERENCE

[Akiko Seto, IAVE National Representative from Japan, has sent us this information on behalf of the organizing committee for the 11th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference.]

The“XI IAVE Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference is to be held December 7-11, 2007 in Nagoya, Japan. In this conference, some 500 people from Asia Pacific countries and areas as well as from Japan, will take up various issues facing society and learn from each other’s experiences and endeavors in order to work out solutions.

To hold this conference in Nagoya has quite important meanings:

   • This conference will pursue one of the ideas of EXPO 2005, also held in Nagoya, to encourage  citizens’ participation in building society and further develop it.

   • In response to the strong request made by the IAVE directors from the different countries, a commemorative ceremony in honor of the late Mrs. Kazuko Toyoda who made a tremendous contribution to the development of IAVE will be held.

   • This conference will become an occasion for businesses and governments as well as individuals to recognize the importance of volunteering.

   • To learn volunteering examples in other countries will help review one’s own activities from a global standpoint.

   • The conference will be an opportunity to make known Japan’s volunteering examples as well as her traditions and cultures.

   • It will help lead to form a network of volunteering beyond national boundaries, thus widening the scope of cooperation.

Planning and management for the conference is the responsibility of a Steering Committee which will work in partnership with IAVE Japan and the EXPO 2005 Aichi Volunteer Center under the leadership of Professor Katsutoshi Enokida of Aichi Shukutoku University.

The conference will feature four special forum sessions:

 • Forum 1 ;  Senior Citizens Volunteering : Baby-boomer Generation
 • Forum 2 ;  Corporate Volunteering : Corporate Social Responsibility
 • Forum 3 ;  Large-scale Events Volunteer Management
 • Forum 4 ;  Volunteering and Disaster Management

Opportunities for workshops are opened to the participants on various sorts of volunteer fields and activities: 

 • The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG
 • Youth and Volunteering
 • Service Learning
 • Volunteer Management
 • IT and Volunteering
 • Multi-Cultural Issues and Volunteering, etc.

If you are interested in presenting a workshop or a paper at a workshop, we ask that you submit the following information no later than July 31, 2007:　
 
 • Title of Workshop
 • 2 Page Summary Sheet in A4 size 
 • Conference Application Form　

We will review all the papers and respond to each applicant on the result in August.

Each Asia-Pacific IAVE National Representative will be invited to make a country report on the status of volunteering in their country.

The registration fee will be:

Accommodations will be available at several Nagoya hotels, at the Youth Hall of Aichi Prefecture and in home stays.

All details can be found on the conference website which will be active after April 23:
http://www.vol-expo2005.jp/iave2007/index.html

The conference secretariat can be reached after April 23 by email at iave@vol-expo2005.jp and by telephone at 81-52-486-7746 and fax at 81-52-387-8822.

PREPARATIONS UNDERWAY FOR IAVE´S 20TH WORLD VOLUNTEER CONFERENCE

An IAVE task force visited last month Panama to assist the host committee in preparations for the event. In that occasion, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the YMCA Panama (the hosting organization) and IAVE cementing preparations for the 20th IAVE World Volunteer Conference, which will be held from April 2-5, 2008 in Panama City.
 
With the title "Volunteering for Human Development: More Solidarity, Less Poverty", the conference will include a Youth Conference and a Training for National Representatives of IAVE prior to the main conference. During the conference itself, an agenda was agreed that includes forums, workshops, volunteer activities, a carnival party and a visit to the Panama Canal for international delegates.
 
The topics of the forums are aligned to the IAVE strategic goals and include specific themes such as the role of governments in volunteering; international volunteering; research on volunteerism; volunteers centers; ethics and values in the practice of volunteerism; senior volunteering; corporate volunteering and youth volunteering. A web site for the conference will be launch next month. Meanwhile, you can check the agenda in the news section of www.iave.org
 
An schedule also was set by IAVE and YMCA Panama regarding the conference call for presentations, deadline for abstracts presentations, scholarships applications due and early bird registration due. Next month, through the IAVE web page, E-IAVE and web site of the conference all this information will be released.
 
For further information you can contact Dacil Acevedo Riquelme, IAVE National Representative in Panama at iavepanama@cableonda.net.

IN MEMORIAM: SUBHACHARI DASGUPTA ( 1929 –2007)

[To conclude our tribute to Professor Dasgupta, organizer of the 2006 World Volunteer Conference in New Delhi, we are pleased to share with you excerpts from his obituary as sent to us by his colleagues at the People’s Institute for Development and Training.]

Never wanting attention on himself, he worked selflessly, moving seamlessly between the villages and metropolis, always emphasizing positive action, weaving dreams and making them possible through consistent holistic hard work. He was a visionary and defined for PIDT a mission which knows little parallel viz. “Feminine-isation of the Value System for Reconstruction of the Community and the Nation”. He was an ardent lover of Nature and Beauty, which personified every action he undertook. His ‘childlike’ mind was always innovating, resolving and problem solving and he was able to relate solution to problem  in  most direct and jovial manner. He was straightforward and direct with a perspective that constantly questioned popular notions and accepted norms, always forward looking with a strong sense of fairness, justice and foresight.

His consistent inspiring work through the People’s Institute for Development and Training (PIDT), has benefited at least four generations of women and men in over a 1,000 villages in rural backwaters of India, to feel a sense of freedom and self actualization. It was with the heart of a painter that he sought to change the picture on the canvas and introduce new possibilities in the lives of people, with an amazing intuitive understanding and sense of Nature and Beauty.

*****

A prayer written in his remembrance, says –

In your tireless striving to bring heaven on earth
How do we mourn you – whom the heavens have called?

In thought, in action, you lived in the joy of giving
In seeds you have sown of love on earth
Bless us that we may know to water …..

*****

Prof. Subhachari Dasgupta, born in 1929, grew up in turbulent times, and participated in the freedom struggle, even as a young child in Kolkatta in some of the non-violent rallies and was even the flagbearer when all others before him had been shot dead. He was driven by ideals and values influenced by the freedom movement, Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Mahatma Phule and Paulo Friere.  He was a true educator and worked with young people, over three decades, to inspire and develop a love and commitment for working with the poorest and under-privileged and was able to develop civil society leaders who form the backbone of India’s grassroots action. He contributed significantly to developing understanding regarding volunteering in the Third World amongst the First World.

Prof. Subhachari Dasgupta was the youngest son of noted philosopher Late Prof. Surendranath Dasgupta who wrote 5 volumes of ‘History of Indian Philosophy’ and taught at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Growing up in an aristocratic family and being the youngest amongst 6 brothers, gave him a lot of time to play, while over 100 persons had meals in their household at any given time. Perhaps his huge adaptability and warmth came from these circumstances. His father died early and he travelled by cargo ship to London , where he completed his post-graduation. After post-graduation,  he joined the Bata Shoe Co. in London  and worked with them in Paris as  well as in Kolkata, where he developed a number of new advertising strategies under the tutelage of D.K.Sinha. One of his major innovations and contribution to the advertising field was the linking of seasons and festivals with product saleability, a strategy still used by Bata and mainstreamed by many advertisers.

When in 1970 , the National Institute for Bank Management was formed, he was appointed as the first faculty. At NIBM, which is a RBI instituted institution, he became a full professor.  He served as consultant to Bank’s Bhumiputra and Negara to develop agricultural and rural banking in Malaysia. He also served as Govt. of India advisor to develop agricultural finance in  Banks in Bangladesh, Nepal, Thailand and  Sri Lanka.

In 1976, he along with other senior staff of NIBM was instrumental in developing the Rural Action Project to investigate why villagers were unable to avail of finance from banks even though Farmers Credit Societies had been instituted. This led to extensive innovative action research, which led to intensive social action at various locations across North India and increased farmers access to credit.

Dedicating himself to the development of the people in remote tribal villages and those oppressed and voiceless, he travelled extensively through the states of Meghalaya, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Orrisa and Maharashtra. His approach was to develop the analytical understanding of people and give voice to the voiceless and also exhibited the courage to withdraw from areas after the communities developed self-reliant sustainable transformation. His mission was to increase freedoms of ordinary people in low caste communities and tribes. He worked incessantly and trained hundreds of young trainers who form the backbone of the Indian civil society movement today.

He was 78, and is survived by his wife, Dr. Aparna Dasgupta , his son, Shubhagato and daughter Indira, daughter-in-law Paromoita, son-in-law Sasidhar and two grandsons Vishwam and Suyas.

MAFANIKIO COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATION

[We are pleased to present this report on the work of one of our members in Kenya, the Mafanikio Community Based Organization.]

MCBO was set up in 2003 to fight poverty in the marginalized regions of Kenya.  The organization is registered under the Kenyan Ministry of Culture and Social Services. It aims to improve the livelihood of the marginalized communities.  This is achieved through the following programmes:

   •  International work camps
   •  School feeding programmes
   •  Skills based training
   •  Community based campaigns
   •  High school education fund

Mafanikio organizes international work camps to bring together local and international volunteers to assist a community with project and share experiences. The work camps are scheduled to last for 3 weeks in the marginalized communities.

During this time the volunteers come into contact with first hand experience, development challenges, and conflict resolutions.

The participation fee is 300 euros which caters for airport transfer, government clearance fee, work camp meals and accommodation, transport to work camp venue, administration costs and in part project materials.

For more information please contact the Co-ordinator
Mafanikio Community Based Organization
P.O. BOX 26393 00504
Nairobi, Kenya
Email:mafanikio_cbo@yahoo.com
www.mafanikio.com

FROM IAVE’S VICE-PRESIDENT

[Rose Ekeleme of Nigeria, Vice-President of IAVE’s board of directors, has sent us this news from Nigeria.]

As you probably know  on April 14th, Nigeria had elections for the governorship and houses of Assembly in the 36 States in Nigeria.  Elizabeth Ativie, an avid IAVE member, won election into the Edo State  house of Assembly.  She garnered 31,151 votes while her closest opponent had 3662 votes.

We congratulate Elizabeth for fighting a big battle in a country where gender is a major obstacle.  I believe her people recognized her immense potential as a leader and a statesman and so asked her to represent them.  In 2005 she, in collaboration with the Edo State First lady, Chief (Mrs) Eki Igbenedion organized a very successful International Volunteer Day in Benin where many prominent volunteers were honoured.

It will be nice if you send her letters of congratulations at iave_edo@yahoo.com.
Congratulations, Elizabeth.  We in Nigeria are very proud of you!!

*****

Recently, five IAVE members from Nigeria attended a workshop organized by VOSESA in Johannesburg, South Africa.  In attendance too, were IAVE members Mahandrenath Busgopaul from Mauritius as well as Martha Rampa and Catherine Thupayagale from Botswana..  It was a capacity-building workshop on Civic Service and Volunteering in Southern Africa held on March 14-16,2007.

The organizers used the opportunity to launch a special joint edition of the Journal for Social Development in Africa and the Social Work Practitioner Researcher.  Several speakers from the Universities of Botswana, Malawi, Zimbabwe and Zambia were in attendance.  The Workshop was coordinated by Helen Perold, also an IAVE member.  Details of that workshop can be found in the VOSESA website at www.vosesa.org

"I-VOLUNTEER” PROJECT LAUNCHED IN TAIWAN

[Solomon Fang from IAVE Taiwan sent us the following report on their work.]

To encourage youth’s contribution to volunteer services and celebrate the rapid development of volunteerism in Taiwan, IAVE Taiwan cooperatively launched the“I-Volunteer”project with the public and academia in 2007. The ceremony of MOU signing was held on March 29, 2007.

During the past decade, more universities and colleges have dedicated themselves to increasing volunteer awareness on campus and developing service learning projects to cultivate humanistic qualities among young people.

With the motto of “Volunteering Taiwan on the Global Track,” IAVE Taiwan, based in Southern Taiwan, has cooperated with National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) and Kaohsiung City Government to train the freshmen of NSYSU to be qualified tour guides and volunteers on Cijin Island, a well-known tourist spot in Kaohsiung City. The freshmen will provide the best services to tourists and citizens and get involved in community empowerment projects at Cijin I-Center.

The “I-Volunteer” is a new project of IAVE Taiwan in 2007. This year, we not only continually bring Taiwanese experiences to the global community and seek more interaction opportunities with international organizations, but also contribute our rich experiences to and efforts in youth volunteer development in Taiwan. IAVE Taiwan is planning to cooperatively launch the “I-Volunteer” project with universities and colleges in Taiwan in 2007 by offering overseas volunteer match and domestic volunteer opportunities.

We welcome overseas volunteer opportunities. Please contact us through iave.taiwan@msa.hinet.net .

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES IN CAMEROON

[This information was received from one of our member organizations in Cameroon.  Additional information, including volunteer job descriptions, can be found in the Resources section of www.iave.org at http://www.iave.org/ResourceView.asp?ResourceID=55.  The contact at CAPEC is Ajomuzu Collette Bekaku at capecam20@yahoo.com.]

Since its inception in 2002, the Cameroon Association for the Protection and Education of the Child (CAPEC) has been working with children/youths, parents, Government bodies and intergovernmental bodies in the promotion of community welfare. It works to identify the need of the child especially the rural child/youths, the underprivileged and the weaker section of the society through a participatory approach.

CAPEC’s volunteer program has as Vision Bridge the global social gap, between people and places. Our volunteering landscape in all its diversity help shapes a positive, healthy, fair and learning society at home and abroad.

Our volunteer program is open to:

   • Students seeking internship;
   • Unemployed graduates seeking professional experience;
   • Professionals that are yet to be employed;
   • Anyone with a zeal and feeling that they have something to offer to the development of the society (age, education, race, color, and physical condition are not a prerequisite).

Opportunities are offered for volunteers in:

   • Orphanages
   • The National Centre for the Rehabilitation of Handicaps
   • Schools and colleges
   • Hospitals and maternity care

Volunteers can be received at any time of the year and should be able to speak either French or German. They will be housed with host families.

VOLUNTEERING QUEENSLAND CELEBRATES ITS 25TH ANNIVERSARY

[This report comes to us from IAVE member Carlton Meyne in Brisbane, Australia.]

Volunteering Queensland is celebrating its 25th Birthday as the peak body for volunteering in this state with an actioned packed calendar during National Volunteer Week, May 14-20, 2007.

In the quarter of a century that Volunteering Queensland have been supporting and promoting volunteering in Queensland, the volunteering landscape has radically changed. There is a volunteering revolution coming, and as we look ahead, to the next 25 years, new models of volunteering are emerging that will change how organisations engage and support volunteers in the future.

Among other activities, Volunteering Queensland will celebrate National Volunteer Week with a special Researcher/Practitioner Symposium, "Volunteering Revolution: 2032", led by internationally renowned speaker Professor Sue Kenny, Chair of the Institute of Citzenship and Globalisation, and Director, Centre for Citzenship and Human Rights and a panel of local experts who will explore the changing nature of volunteering in the future, and the revolution that will effect us all.

Also, in association with Quest Newspapers, Volunteering Queensland is supporting the Westside Walk to raise awareness of volunteering and support local community organisations. This fundraising event features Queensland celebrities walking from Brisbane city to Brookside, and starts with a breakfast event sponsored by bbs cafe (major supporter of volunteering in Australia) at Volunteering Queensland.

Learn more about Volunteering Queensland and its National Volunteer Week activities at www.volqld.org.au.

CIVICUS ANNOUNCES THE NELSON MANDELA GRACA MACHEL INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS

[Last month, we reported that IAVE Nigeria is being recognized with a cash award at the upcoming CIVICUS World Assembly.  Here is more of the story.]

CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation is pleased to announce the winners of its latest round of Innovation Awards. These awards are in the form of seed funding of US $5,000 granted to outstanding project proposals arising out of the CIVICUS World Assembly. Last year’s Assembly was held in Glasgow, Scotland in June, and organisations who attended were invited to submit proposals.

The judging panel was headed by Lesley Bulman-Lever, former CEO of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts and a Board member of CIVICUS. The rest of the judging panel comprised Lisa Jordan of the Ford Foundation, Marcy Kelley of the Inter American Foundation; Tawanda Mutasah of the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa; Akira Iriyama, former President of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation; Simon Maxwell of the Overseas Development Institute, UK; Filiz Bikmen of the Third Sector Foundation of Turkey; and Cardinal Uwishaka, Assistant Secretary General, Programmes at CIVICUS.

In all, 17 proposals were received, ranging from Nigeria, India, Bangladesh, Uganda, the USA, Fiji, South Africa and Madagascar.

The judges’final selection included three projects, two from Nigeria and one from Fiji.  The Centre for Human Rights, Research & Development in Nigeria submitted a proposal for a collaborative project together with the Legal Services Agency, Glasgow, and the Women Trafficking & Child Labour Eradication Foundation (WOTCLEF), also in Nigeria, entitled “Women Trafficking: Nigeria to Scotland Research, Advocacy and Education Project.

The Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises in Development (FRIEND) from Fiji will initiate a youth employment network; and the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) in Nigeria’s proposal was “Make Poverty History for the Physically Challenged”.

The judges were most impressed with the overall quality of the proposals, which were judged according to their novelty and originality, sustainability, potential for positive impact on citizen rights and justice movements, and partnership opportunities.  Particularly important was the relevance to the theme of the CIVICUS World Assembly, “Acting Together for a Just World” which includes social, political, economic and civic justice.

The winners will be presented with their awards at the upcoming CIVICUS World Assembly in Glasgow on 26 May. There will be another opportunity to apply for this award by organisations attending this year’s World Assembly from 23-27 May 2007 in Glasgow, where the focus theme will be“Accountability - Delivering Results”.

For more information on the CIVICUS World Assembly, see www.civicusassembly.org. 

THE CALENDAR