Join us in November for our 24th World Volunteer Conference in Mexico City, hosted by Centro Mexicano para la Filantropía A.C. (CEMEFI).

Take advantage of this exciting opportunity to meet other volunteer leaders from around the world, grow your network, develop your skills, and learn about emerging innovations and best practices in global volunteering.

Our theme – Volunteering for Social Change – recognizes that volunteering is a powerful way in which individual and collective actions can bring needed change to our communities, our countries and our rapidly globalizing world. At the same time, we know that volunteering contributes to our own personal development – building knowledge of the realities of the world, reinforcing our instinct to care and to respond and reminding us of our ability to make a real difference in the lives of others.

Together these two strands – social change and human development – form the framework for our program and accent our goal: to value volunteering as a strategic, high impact action for development.

The specific objectives of the conference are to:

• Position volunteering as a tool for change that promotes new dynamics of citizen participation
• Bring together leaders from NGOs at all levels, businesses, government and academia to learn from one another and to develop mutual support networks
• Give attention to innovative practices that increase the impact of volunteering on those served and on volunteers themselves
• Address the issues and challenges volunteering faces in a rapidly changing world
• Renew our mutual commitment to volunteering that builds solidarity among all people

IAVE and Cemefi share a commitment to the development and protection of the broadest range of volunteer action that addresses critical issues, seeks to build and sustain environments that encourage and value the participation of people in determining the future of their societies, and reinforces the essential value of people caring for their communities and for one another. Our program will reflect that shared commitment.