September 14, 2011
IAVE at UN DPI/NGO Conference
At the 64th annual NGO conference organized by the UN Department of Public Information in Bonn, Germany, on September 3-5, 2011, IAVE sponsored a workshop session on “Volunteering for Better Communities” moderated by Joseph Donnelly, with IAVE president Dr. Kang-Hyun Lee and IAVE board member Dr. Eugen Baldas joined on the panel by Prof. Dr. Udo Friedrich Schmailzle from OFM (see attached document).
Organized by Dr. Baldas and co-sponsored by German Caritas Association, the NGO workshop was an interactive session, in which the moderator asked the audience to actively participate after the presentations by the panelists.
Dr. Lee spoke on IAVE activities to celebrate IYV+10, including the kick-off event of the anniversary year – the 21st IAVE World Volunteer Conference in Singapore on January 24-27, and the closing event – the 2nd World Youth Volunteer Summit Meeting in Barranquilla, Colombia, on November 2-5. IAVE’s members also organized IYV+10 activities in their own countries and communities.
Dr. Baldas spoke on the pros and cons of civil society engagement with churches, with analysis of local projects. Prof. Schailzle spoke on a research project on how people are more likely to volunteer in their community if they can see the direct benefits of their work.
Issues discussed in the Q&A session included: raising awareness of volunteering through IYV+10, recognizing volunteers through awards, the role of churches in filling gaps in communities, and SME involvement in volunteer centers.
As for the main conference, volunteering was well recognized in the declaration (see attachment highlighted). UNV executive secretary Dr. Flavia Pansieri was the co-chair of preparation committee and many UNV people organized sessions and made presentations on IYV+10 and the coming Global Volunteer Conference to be held in Budapest.
Dr. Grace H. Aguiling-Dalisay from VSO Bahaginan, who is one of IAVE’s more active member in Philippine, gave a keynote speech during the Opening Ceremony mentioning IAVE’s contribution to promoting volunteerism. Another friend of IAVE centrally involved in the conference was Justin Davis Smith, who gave a speech at the Closing Ceremony.
Dr. Lee also took part in regional and UNV-organized meetings, where he strongly voiced the need to include volunteering as a civic right, or basic human right, as stated in the Universal Declaration on Volunteering, which was reflected in the final declaration of the conference.
The theme of the conference was “Sustainable Societies: Responsive Citizens”, in what some took as a preparation for Rio+20 which will be held in June 2012 in Brazil. There was general agreement that volunteering is necessary for sustainable societies and should also be a component of corporate social responsibility. On that issue, some participants were disappointed by the lack of representation from the private sector, since Pepsi Cola was the only corporation to speak at the conference.
For the future, Dr. Lee hoped that IAVE would be more actively involved in organizing workshops, roundtables sessions, and hosting an exhibition booth at the next DPI/NGO conference, to raise the issue of corporate volunteering in particular, and elevate IAVE’s visibility as a major volunteering organization.
