IYV+10 meeting at UNV Headquarters

IAVE was one of the volunteer organizations invited by UNV to attend a consultative meeting to discuss preparations for 2011, the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10). The dialogue took place at UNV headquarters from 22-23 October 2009.

The meeting brought together volunteer organizations, governments and international organizations, along with UNV and other UN partners. Peace Corps, the Scout movement, YWCA, the Red Cross, CIVICUS and CCIVS were some of the organizations represented.

UN delegates came from UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF, WHO, ILO and other related agencies and offices. Attendees also include representatives of the European Commission and the German, Japanese and Korean governments.

UNV executive coordinator, Flavia Pansieri stressed from the start that the 2011 was everyone’s year, and that it was everyone’s responsibility to promote IYV+10. UNV plans to recycling the four goals, or “pillars” from IYV - Recognition, Promotion, Facilitation and Networking.

Pansieri also stressed working to move beyond the anniversary, saying that wants to bring the voices of volunteers to the attention of policy makers.

Reviewed the progress made since 2001, Pansieri noted:
•    The move away from the “charity model” of volunteering;
•    Recognition of the “value of volunteering” ;
•    The expansion of IT volunteering;
•    The value of culture differences and the commonality of motivation;
•    The desire for professional volunteer management;
•    The expansion of CSR.

She hoped that other countries/regions would follow the model of CEV in getting the EU to declare a European Year of Volunteers in 2011.

Stephan Agerhem from the Red Cross outlined their future plans, not necessarily for the anniversary, but for 2025, around “new world citizens”, climate change, and the Red Cross's work with companies. Agerhem also talked about Red Cross's partnership with Lion’s Clubs worldwide, and mentioned working with AVS in Lebanon on the planned IAVE Arab Nations regional conference in 2010.

Five organizations spoke on their plans for the year-
•    CEV - Markus Held talked about the European Year of Volunteers.
•    UNV - On December 5, 2010, at the UN General Assembly there will be a resolution and then again in 2011.  In 2010 there is a committee for Volunteerism for Development of Social Inclusion.
•    CCIVS talked about their support of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
•    The Scouting Movement have their annual world conference on January 14, the week before the IAVE World Volunteer Coneference in Singapore.

The challenges, opportunities, needs, expectations, and rolls of national or regional committees were also covered. Group discusions in preparation for an action plan included the issues of social inclusion and communication strategies.