October 1, 2009

March 2008

IAVE IRC

E-IAVE

IN THIS ISSUE:

NEWS FROM IAVE

NEWS FROM IAVE MEMBERS


ABOUT THIS ISSUE
We are on the eve of the 20th World Volunteer Conference.  As this newsletter is being sent, members of the IAVE board are beginning to travel to Panama for their meeting, young people are packing to attend the Youth Forum and several hundred people from around the world are looking forward to arriving in Panama City for the conference.

But, as you will see in this issue, there is lots of other news from IAVE and from our global volunteer community!

NEWS FROM IAVE
Dr. Kang Hyun Lee of South Korea Elected World President of IAVE

From Liz Burns, World President of IAVE:
“You will all be pleased to know that Dr Kang Hyun Lee has been unanimously elected as the next World President.  All of us on the board of directors were very impressed by his vision for IAVE's future. Many of us have known him as a long-standing, loyal and committed member of IAVE and of the Board, and know that he will provide strong and steady leadership.  

“He led the organisation of the 2002 World Volunteer Conference in Seoul, has successfully raised the profile of IAVE in the Asia-Pacific region and has made an outstanding contribution to the development of volunteering and volunteer centres in his own country.”

First Words from Dr. Lee
[The following is excerpted from Dr. Lee’s message to the IAVE board of directors in advance of his election as World President.  Dr. Lee has asked us to report that the best way to reach him now is through email at iavepres@Korea.com.]

My vision for IAVE is for it to be a respected and active international volunteer network organization that contributes substantially to sustainable world peace as well as individual happiness or self-realization by promoting volunteerism, facilitating effective volunteering, and recognizing the values of volunteering and volunteers world widely.
 
 I believe that three elements are needed to realize this vision.  The first element is strong leadership, from both the office of the president and the board of directors.  The second one is a functioning network with other respected organizations in government, business, and civil society.  The last one is the resources necessary to achieve the goals.  

Since the world is facing new and rapidly compounding challenges, such as the 20:80 distribution of wealth, eruptions of new strains of deadly, infectious diseases, and global climate changes which may cause catastrophic disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and droughts, the demands of volunteering to address those challenges locally and globally have been dramatically increased, while the number of volunteers remain the same in advanced countries.  I feel it is imperative to challenge these issues personally by spreading hope generated by volunteering.

Recently, I observed that hope is still alive when an enormous amount of volunteer effort given to clean up the crude oil spill on the west coast of the Korean peninsula caused by a collision between an oil tanker and a barge on 7th of December, 2007.  No matter how cold the weather was, the human chains of workers were continuously formed by volunteers from all over the country to help victims and clean up the coastal areas.  It rekindled our attention to volunteer program management, government policies on promoting volunteering, and infrastructure (especially volunteer centers) for volunteering.  It is an unprecedented phenomenon (more than 1 million volunteers participated in two months) and totally different from the similar accident that occurred 12 years ago, when there was no volunteering movement to clean up the polluted seashores.

New Members Elected to IAVE Board of Directors
We are pleased to announce the election of three members to the IAVE board of directors:

♣    Kylee Bates of Australia and Dr. Amelita Go of the Philippines have been elected Regional Representatives from the Asia-Pacific Region.

♣    Galina Bodrenkova of Russia has been elected an honorary member of the board in recognition of her years of service on behalf of IAVE in Russia and surrounding countries.

They will join the board for the first time at its meeting in Panama next week.  They will join Honore Sietso of Togo who we announced in December had been elected, unopposed, as a Regional Representative from Africa.

In December we also reported the re-election, without opposition, of three other Regional Representatives to the IAVE board of directors:

Europe – Collette Robert, France
Latin America – Maria Teresa Gnecco, Colombia
North America – Kathi Dennis, U.S.

Last Updates from the 20th IAVE World Volunteer Conference
[This message comes to us on the eve of the conference from Dacil Acevedo Riquelme, IAVE National Representative in Panama, who has played a major leadership role in planning and managing the conference.]
We are very close to the 20th IAVE World Volunteer Conference that will be held in Panama City, April 2-5th with the theme "Volunteering for Human Development, More Solidarity, Less Poverty".  We are sure it is going to be an unforgettable conference.  It is being locally organized by the YMCA Panama.
 
As IAVE Representative in Panama I have been volunteering my time the last two years in the preparations for this important conference. In particular, I have had the opportunity to be the Technical Coordinator of the conference in charge of the agenda.
So I would like to share with you that we are very proud to be honored by the presence of the following key note plenary speakers who has confirmed their participation:

♣    Caesar Molabatsi, Former President of the World Alliance of YMCAs (inauguration ceremony)
♣    Patricia Janiot, Presenter CNN in Spanish (closing ceremony)
♣    Flavia Pansieri, Executive Coordinator UN Volunteers
♣    Vivian Fernandez de Torrijos, First Lady Of Panama
♣    Salil Shetty, Director, Millenium Campaign, UN
♣    Isabel Licha, Social Policy Director, Spain Fund, UNDP
♣    Kumi Naidoo, President of CIVICUS
♣    Markus Held, Director of the European Center for Volunteerism
♣    Lester Salamon, Professor of the John Hopkins University
♣    Leopoldo Moacir Lima, President, Latin American and Caribbean YMCA Alliance
 
The President of Panama will also officially inaugurate this IAVE conference. Specialized forums will be held in issues such as: corporate volunteerism, ethics and values; government role in support of volunteering; research in volunteerism; international volunteering; national volunteer centers; senior volunteering; and, youth volunteering. Also, almost 50 workshops will be held during the conference.
 
I want to specially acknowledge the volunteers that have supported the conference organization, including among others: Conference General Coordinator and Technical Coordinator; graphic designer of YMCA Panama; VIP Advisory Board; President of Committees including the volunteering committee and volunteers for the conference itself.  Almost 100 local volunteers have been supporting the effort along the whole time of preparation.
 
On behalf of all the Latin American countries, we are very glad to have this conference in our region since for those days, Panama City will be the "World Capital of Solidarity". Thanks for the honor and trust in Panama.
 
Warm regards,
Dacil

IAVE IRC to continue for another three years
The IAVE International Resources Center (IRC) will continue to offer services for another three years, thanks to a joint memorandum of understanding signed by IAVE, IAVE Taiwan and the National Youth Commission of Taiwan on Thursday, March 6.

The agreement was signed at the IRC office in Taipei by IAVE's Liz Burns and Kang-Hyun Lee, National Youth Commission minister Lin Tai-Hua, and IAVETaiwan president Hsu Hui-Mei. The parties confirmed their commitment to the IAVE IRC until the end of 2010.

The agreement continues the original memorandum of understanding to establish the IRC, which was signed at the IAVE World Conference in Barcelona in 2004. When the IRC opened at the start of 2005, it was charged with developing resource materials and disseminating information to increase IAVE’s capacity to provide services to its members and other volunteers around the world. The IRC’s main responsibility is to maintain IAVE’s website.

 

The new tripartite agreement outlines an organizational structure and funding plan to continue the IRC’s work for another three years. At the signing ceremony, Liz Burns said the IRC was helping spread the message that volunteering has the power to make people part of the solution to the world’s problems. Dr. Lee added that serving the needy also makes the volunteer happy, so the IRC was in the business of making people happy. Lin Tai-Hua said IAVE offered Taiwanese youth the opportunity to participate in international society.

NEWS FROM IAVE MEMBERS
SAVE THE DATE FOR THE IAVE RECEPTION AT THE U.S. NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF VOLUNTEERING & SERVICE
[This invitation comes to us from Susan Danish, IAVE National Representative in the United States.]

This year’s plans for outreach on behalf of IAVE in the United States include a repeat of two very successful first efforts undertaken last year.

Last year, IAVE had a presence at the annual conference sponsored by the U.S. government’s Corporation for National and Community Service and the Points of Light Foundation. We hosted a table in the exhibit area where our volunteers distributed information and answered questions, and we also hosted a well-attended private reception for IAVE members and friends.

If you are planning to attend this year’s conference in Atlanta, Georgia, May 31 – June 3, 2008 we hope you’ll stop by our booth AND save the date for our private reception, Monday, June 2 from 6 – 7 PM.  

Both the booth and the reception will be underwritten again by The Association of Junior Leagues International Inc. (AJLI), IAVE’s U.S. national representative organization.

New Secretary General Appointed at CIVICUS
Ingrid Srinath, currently Chief Executive of Child Rights and You (CRY) in Mumbai, India, will take over from Kumi Naidoo and assume the position of Secretary General-Elect of CIVICUS on 1 May 2008.

“The CIVICUS Board believes that Ingrid possesses all the right skills to develop the organization in the years to come. She brings valuable experience and a fresh perspective to this global family of civil society and I am convinced she will energise the movement we began,” said Anabel Cruz, CIVICUS Board Chair.

Kumi Naidoo, who has served as Secretary General since 1998, will step down as Secretary General at the end of July following a 3 month hand over period, after which time he will remain highly involved in the work of CIVICUS as the new Honorary President.  Kumi led CIVICUS though a period of intense global change.  

Ingrid comes to CIVICUS following 9 years at CRY including 4 years as its Chief Executive. At CRY Ingrid successfully re-engineered resource mobilization to ensure robust and sustainable revenue growth and led the organization’s transformation from a grant-making foundation to a rights-based advocacy player. Prior to CRY Ingrid worked extensively within the private sector, as a manager and vice president for a number of corporations based in India. She holds a BA from Elphinstone College in Mumbai and a Post Graduate Diploma in Business Management from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.  

5th All-Russian Conference on volunteering
[Last month we carried a report from Galina Bodrenkova, National Representative in Russia.  The day after we emailed the issue, she sent along this report on plans for the All-Russia Conference on Volunteering.  If you would like to learn more, please email Galina at gbodrenkova@yandex.ru.]
       
On March 13-14, 2008 the 5th All-Russian Conference on Volunteering takes place in Moscow which will include an exhibition of socially significant projects in volunteering and promotion of a healthy way of life as well as a solemn ceremony rewarding winners of the national public award in the field of volunteering for 2007.

The goal of the conference is development of civic society – the state dialogue about a role, a place and prospects of volunteer development in Russia in a context of strategic directions of development of the country till 2020, designated by the President of the Russian Federation V.V.Putin at the expanded session of the State Council (on February, 8th, 2008).

Objectives of conference include:

  • Discussion of actual problems and development of approaches to formation of mechanisms of system support and perfection of legal bases of voluntary activity in Russia;
  • Distribution of positive practical results and effective mechanisms of interaction of authorities and the voluntary organizations in of support volunteering, including works of the volunteer centers, realizations of programs to support youth volunteering in educational establishments, management of voluntary programs in NGOs, municipal establishments and the organizations business of community;
  • Preparation of recommendations for bodies of the government, Public chamber of the Russian Federation on development of institute volunteering.

The basic themes for discussion are:

  1. Tendencies in formation and realizations of a state policy of support volunteering and perfection  of the legislation;
  2. Development of an infrastructure and programs of support and development of voluntary initiatives, practical experience and legal aspects;
  3. Volunteering, as an effective way of propagation of a healthy way of life and formation of spiritually moral reference points in the youth environment;
  4. The volunteer center, as the effective mechanism of association of efforts of the volunteering organizations and bodies state /local self-management at the decision of socially significant problems of a society;
  5. Programs and methods of development youth volunteering in educational establishments;
  6. Effective methods of management of volunteer activity in NGO, municipal social establishments and business the companies.

The conference is supported by a Committee of the State Duma - Committee on Affairs of Public Associations and Religious Organizations, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation, Public Advice TSFO, and the All-Russian public organization, League of Health of the Nation.

There will be participation of deputies of the State Duma, members of the public chamber of the Russian Federation.

Organizers of Conference are the Russian Volunteer Development Center (MCH),  “Sozidanie” Foundation,  Fund of Social Development.

Celebrate and Realize the Potential of Cultural and Linguistic Diversity in Volunteering
[We are grateful to our colleagues at Volunteering Australia for sharing this information about new resource materials to support growth of diversity in volunteering.]

Volunteering Australia recognizes the huge contribution culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people contribute to communities through volunteering. 

Valuing diversity in our communities also means valuing the diversity of contribution.  Official statistics indicate that 29% of people in Australia who were born overseas participate in formal volunteering.  If we could effectively measure the contribution through informal volunteering (i.e.: outside not for profit organizations and without a volunteer position description), that percentage would dramatically increase.

NSW Minister for Volunteering, Linda Burney, recently said “We know enormous numbers of people, including those of non-English speaking backgrounds, generously give their time informally within their communities.  These people frequently don’t acknowledge that what they’re doing is volunteering.”
Tapping into the experience and resourcefulness that volunteers from diverse cultural backgrounds can offer is of great benefit to volunteer involving organizations.  They can bring useful knowledge of specific cultures; connect mainstream organizations with their home communities; bring new perspectives to the organization and increase the cultural sensitivity of the organization’s service provision.

Supporting volunteer involving organizations in attracting, recruiting and retaining culturally and linguistically diverse volunteers has been the combined focus of research and resource development by Volunteering Australia, the Australian Multicultural Foundation and Judith Miralles & Associates.

Link to Practical Guide Involving Volunteers from Diverse Cultural and Language Backgrounds in your Organisation.  http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?a...

Link to Training Manual Recruiting and Supporting Volunteers from Diverse Cultural and Language Backgrounds  http://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/html/s02_article/article_view.asp?a...

Organizations can access these resources to help them realize the potential that is available through greater connection with their CALD communities, and then celebrate the benefits.

If any organization would like to provide feedback about utilizing the Practical Guide or Training Manual, please contact sandra.wilson@volunteeringaustralia.org

AVSO LAUNCHES THE “INVISIBLE HEROES CAMPAIGN”
[This article originally arrived in our email in December but is only now finding its way into E-IAVE.  We apologize for the oversight.  For further information on this interesting project, please write to info@avso.org.]

To mark the International Volunteer Day in 2007, the Association of Voluntary Service Organisations – AVSO launches the European “Invisible Heroes” campaign to collect as many photos of serving volunteers as possible during 12 months. The campaign kicks off on the International Volunteer Day of 2007 and runs for twelve months, until the 5th December 2008!

Why we want your photo? If you are a volunteer currently serving, please send us a photo. This visual campaign will help us put a “real-life feel” to our lobbying efforts; it will hopefully demonstrate the magnitude of voluntary service in Europe, showcase the different people who volunteer and the different projects, and convince key decision makers to give the issue more attention.

The purpose of the campaign is to get recognition for all those many hundreds of thousands of volunteers serving daily in Europe, the “Invisible Heroes” of our societies. Every volunteer should be recognised for his/her contribution to society, the time and energy they invest in helping others and making Europe a better place to live!

We ask volunteers serving currently and during the next 12 months in Europe to send us their photo to invisibleheroes@avso.org, specifying the project and city of the service as well as their name. In the first phase of this visual campaign we will collect the photos and up-load them to a separate website linked from the AVSO website. As soon as the special “Invisible Heroes” campaign website is up and running volunteers and their organisations can up-load their own photos directly to the site.

How to participate?

  • Ask someone to take your picture in your place of service, or if you are a volunteer involving organisation, take a photo of your volunteer(s)
  • Specify any information you feel like sharing:  your name, city, the organisation and project of the service as well as any additional information you want to share (programme, duration, motivation…)
  • E-mail the photo and additional information to invisibleheroes@avso.org
  • Check the AVSO (www.avso.org) website regularly for the photos and stories of volunteers

We will give regular up-dates on the number of volunteer photos we have received in our newsletter and website.

AVSO is a European network of voluntary service organisations based in Brussels. Through our lobbying and promotion activities, AVSO strives to achieve recognition for voluntary service at European level, and we empower our members to lobby their national and regional governments. Through networking activities we aim at creating multiple opportunities for partnerships to help us achieve our objectives. We believe voluntary service is a powerful tool for social change its non-formal educational value; its value in combating discrimination and racism, building peace and solidarity and through inclusive voluntary service programmes its contribution to social cohesion and active ageing.

Opportunity to Host Leaders of Israeli Voluntary Organizations
[We were pleased to receive this from our colleague organization in Israel as an opportunity for international exchange.]

The National Council for Voluntarism in Israel has initiated a special program in anticipation of the 60th year celebrations of the state of Israel for sending representatives of volunteer organizations and organizations that activate volunteers to Jewish communities all over the world, in order to make volunteering activity in Israel known, as well as its contribution to the advancement and development of the state.

We are convinced that the exposure of volunteer activity, which represents the beautiful countenance of Israeli society, to Jewish communities, will give a special touch to the 60th year celebrations and contribute to strengthening the affinity of Jews of the world to Israel. This initiative will also contribute to the link between voluntary organizations in Israel and other countries.

The Council has already made preparations for realizing the initiative by preliminary appeals to Jewish communities throughout the world with the request to host representatives of voluntary organizations in Israel.

At the same time, we turn to you with the request to react to this idea and if you are interested in hosting volunteer leaders from Israel in your community - please notify us (using the attached questionnaire). The program is based on the presumption that the Jewish communities will host the representatives, while the travel will be paid for by the sending organization, or the representative him/herself.

For further information please contact Nava Ben-Moshe at nava@ivolunteer.org.il <mailto:nava@ivolunteer.org.il> or at +972-3-560888.

News from CEV – The European Volunteer Center
[Thanks to the generosity of our colleagues at CEV, we are pleased to share these articles from their monthly e-newsletter with our members.]

2007 Annual Report published

The CEV Annual Report for 2007 has been published and distributed to members. The report on last year’s activities is the first to be professionally printed and presented in ‘hard copy, rather than just in an electronic version.  The document records for posterity the year’s highlights, including a 30% growth in membership and recruitment of Sir Elton John and Martá Sebestyén as Ambassadors for CEV.  Further copies are available on request from the CEV secretariat or on the new CEV website.

To see the online version of the Annual Report:
http://www.cev.be/data/File/ANNUAL_REPORT_2007_PRINT_EDITION.pdf

Crisis in Volunteering with Children and Youth

According to research carried out for Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People (SCCYP), fears of being falsely accused of harming children is the major factor preventing Scots from volunteering. While 69% of adults consider working with children, only 5% actually do. 48% of adults said concern about being falsely accused of harming young people is the number one obstacle to becoming a volunteer.
The Adults' Attitudes Towards Contact with Children and Young People report confirms well-publicized concerns in Scotland over the growing bureaucratic burden involved in becoming a volunteer working with young people.  It can be found at:
http://www.sccyp.org.uk/webpages/pr_single.php?article=Adults%27%20attit...  

Taking Red Cross and Red Crescent Volunteers Seriously

Since 1999, when the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies adopted its Volunteering Policy, significant progress has been made in the creation and implementation of National Society volunteer management policies. A just-published report indicates that about half of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have a national volunteer policy, while 43.5% have a volunteer development plan. Initial assessments show that those that have adopted a volunteering policy demonstrate better recruitment and retention of volunteers. To view the full report:

http://www.ifrc.org/docs/pubs/volunteer/Taking_volunteers_seriously_EN.pdf

Young Volunteers Face Visa Obstacles

Bettina Schwarzmayr, President of the European Youth Forum (YFJ), has warned of the dangers of dividing society into two groups - the privileged who can travel unhindered and benefit from simplified procedures, and those who cannot enjoy such advantages.  She highlighted the plight of thousands of young Europeans, wishing to take part in civil society activities, who face discrimination and exclusion, as their right to mobility is impeded.

She called on the EU to provide quick and transparent visa application procedures and visa waivers for civic and educational activities, and to introduce a special type of visa for young people involved in international youth organizations.

Read the full article on http://euobserver.com/9/25600/?rk=1

V::I::P Project Approved

CEV is pleased to announce that funding has been secured for our proposed project “Volunteering in peace building and conflict resolution” (V::I::P), developed in partnership with the South East European Youth Network (SEEYN).  

The V::I::P project will run until 15 September and aims to facilitate the exchange of best practice, concepts and ideas to raise awareness of the potential of youth volunteering for conflict resolution and peace building in (post)conflict regions across Europe.  

The main activity of the project is the seminar "Volunteering in peace building and conflict resolution", which will take place in June 2008 in Sarajevo, bringing together representatives from volunteer centers, volunteer organizations, youth organizations, peace organizations, intergovernmental organizations, private donors and policy makers from 29 organizations and 17 different countries. For more details:
http://www.cev.be/103-vip_volunteering_in_peace_building_and_conflict_re...

If you are in the U.S., Colombia, Ecuador or India -- Apply Today!
[This article comes to us via Kathi Dennis, Regional Representative to the IAVE board from North America.]

The Atlas Corps offices are busy spreading the word about the 2008 Fellowship Application and beginning to review candidates. Now we need your help to spread the word about the Fellowship. Do you know people in Colombia, Ecuador or India interested in volunteering in the U.S. for one year? How about nonprofit leaders in the U.S. who want to volunteer in Colombia? Atlas Corps pays all the expenses, provides a living stipend, health insurance, and training. This is a great opportunity, but candidates must apply soon! All the information is available online:

http://www.atlascorps.org/apply.html

Now is a great time to get involved as a volunteer. We are looking for people to read applications and to help spread the word.

We are poised to double the size of our program this year, but we need your help to guarantee we find good candidates. Chances are you know someone in the U.S., Colombia, India or Ecuador who would be interested in volunteering overseas for one year.
The application deadline is April 21.  However we are reviewing applications on a rolling basis. So please go online, fill out the candidate questionnaire, read the Host organization profiles, and apply today!

Resource: 
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E-IAVE March 2008