CIVICUS/UNV/IAVE workshop B5 at the 20TH IAVE WORLD VOLUNTEER CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
Submitted by:    
Karena Cronin, CIVICUS UNV Volunteer Outreach Associate
Email: Karena.Cronin@civicus.org
Phone: +27 11 833-5959 Ext. 136
Theme developed by CIVICUS in partnership with UNV and IAVE

Workshop Description
Title: Volunteers as Agents of Social Change: More Solidarity Less Poverty

Facilitator: Karena Cronin, UNV Volunteer (CIVCUS)

Presenters:

Language: English

Abstract:  Conventional thinking has tended to associate volunteering with charity and philanthropy.  However, the reality of volunteering is far more diverse.  In fact, volunteers are oftentimes key agents of social change, particularly in the fight against poverty.  This workshop will highlight the varied ways volunteer action contributes to social change, while also exploring strategies for harnessing the vast potential of volunteerism to address the major global challenges of our times.

Concept:  CIVICUS, the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) Programme will jointly organise a workshop at the 2008 IAVE World Volunteer Conference to generate greater recognition of the role of volunteering in bringing about change, particularly those related to realising and exceeding the MDGs.  This workshop will preview findings from a joint CIVICUS, IAVE and UNV publication on the relationship between volunteering, advocacy and achieving the MDGs, which will be launched at the 2008 CIVICUS World Assembly. The project was identified as a key priority in a 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the three organisations.  It is hoped that this paper and the related activities will help facilitate enhanced engagement among the three partner organisations and will also feed into advocacy and planning efforts related to the International Year of the Volunteer+10 (2011).

Volunteers are critical agents of social change, particularly in efforts to end to poverty and to promote greater equality and justice.  The aim of this workshop is to advance a more multi-faceted image of volunteers (and volunteering) by exploring the commonalities and linkages between volunteering, advocacy and social change.  The relationship will be explored through examples of volunteer involvement in advocacy/campaigning efforts of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), a UNV/UNIFEM civic engagement and women’s empowerment initiative in Latin America and from the perspective of a IAVE Regional Board member. The role of volunteer action in helping to achieve and exceed the MDGs will also be discussed. Panellists will be asked to provide concrete examples of volunteer involvement/impact on social change as well as successful strategies and models for engaging volunteers in advocacy and social change.

Panellists will be chosen from the partner organisations (CIVICUS, IAVE and UNV) based on contributions to the joint publication. 

This workshop is aimed at the broad spectrum of IAVE conference attendees and is expected to draw approximately 10-20 individuals. The workshop presentations and ensuing discussion will help inform how the publication can best to disseminated and utilised to engage the broadest constituency possible within the volunteer movement and the wider movement for social and economic development. 

Format:    90 minute workshop                       

• Intro by moderator re: joint CIVICUS/IAVE/UNV publication and aims of the workshop. (5-7 min.)
• Each panellist (3-4) presents (10-15 minutes) on the role of volunteers as agents of social change in their work. 
• The moderator provides a short summary of the key points raised during the presentations and will propose approximately 3 questions to be discussed by the workshop attendees (5-7 minutes).
• If there is a large enough audience, the attendees, including the panellists will be asked to discuss the questions in small groups (15 minutes).
• The small groups will then report back and the moderator will sum up the session, including lessons learned, any outstanding issues/ /questions as well as possibilities for follow-up to the issues raised (15-20 minutes). 

Profile: Karena Cronin joined CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation in 2007 as the UNV Volunteer Outreach Associate. Her position grows out of a formal agreement among UNV, CIVICUS and IAVE to jointly promote volunteerism. She is primarily tasked with the research and writing for a publication on the relationship of volunteering, activism and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Before receiving her Master of International Affairs from Columbia University in Economic and Political Development, she was the Assistant Director of a Harvard University research program on civic engagement and social capital. 

Resource: 

IAVE presentation1_2008_pdf.pdf