IAVE/GCVC joins SEEYN Youth Conference – Sarajevo

On June 20-24, 2011 SEEYN (South East Europe Youth Network) held a conference titled “See Youth for European Year of Volunteering 2011”. This event brought together young people from Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia, and Greece and – of course – Bosnia & Herzegovina. Additionally, there were attendees from other European countries such as Italy, France and Belgium. Additionally, IAVE was represented by Sarah Hayes who attended from the United States.

The goals for this event were around volunteering policy in South East Europe, and to share tools and inspiring practices for fostering youth policy, youth work, social cohesion in Europe and promotion of inter-cultural dialogue. SEEYN believes that stability in the region depends much on this inter-cultural understanding and the coming together with common values and good ideas for the future. In this light, bringing youth together to discuss these issues is very important, as they will help guide the region to future sustainability and success.

Some of the highlights of the conference included:

• A presentation from Martijn Pakker, newly appointed Executive Director of CEV (the European Volunteer Center) on the EYV 2011 Alliance, showcasing the work of the 6 Working Groups for EYV 2011, which are focusing on:
  • Quality Volunteering 
  • Legal Framework for Volunteering 
  • Volunteering Infrastructure 
  • Recognition of Volunteering
  • Value of Volunteering 
  • Employee Volunteering
• An overview of the development of volunteering in South East Europe, presentation given by Domagoj Kovacic, the Executive Director of SEEYN. 
• Panels and discussions around many topics of interest, such as:
  • Overcoming challenges and obstacles in SEE 
  • Volunteering in the EU context 
  • Economic value of volunteering 
  • International voluntary work camps

The third day was set aside to focus on Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Volunteering. Sarah Hayes, Consultant Director of IAVE’s Global Corporate Volunteer Council kicked off the day with a presentation from the recently launched research project – Global Companies Volunteering Globally. There was much interest from the young audience, and many questions, as this is a topic that is relatively new to the region. Following Sarah, there were presentations from Danielle Bernardet of France Benevolat, as well as representation from some Balkan corporate volunteering schemes. In the afternoon groups broke out according to interest, and much lively discussion ensued! The day was brought to a close with a very passionate speech on Volunteering and CSR in the SEE by Mr. Igor Milosevic, Director of ADP ZID in Montenegro. All in all, it was a day of much learning, lots of new ideas, and a vision for the future of this important and growing component of the volunteering movement – corporate volunteering.

In addition to the great content and networking opportunities at this conference, participants were also treated to the opening of a special photo exhibit – the culmination of a SEEYN organized photo competition around the theme of “Volunteers in Action”. The winning photos are being exhibited at the Blackbox Gallery in Sarajevo, and the exhibit will then move on to other countries in the SEE.

Special thanks to Domagoj Kovacic and his highly organized team for making this a great conference and a great tribute to volunteering in South East Europe during the European Year of Volunteering 2011!

Photo: Michel27