BREAKOUTS

Breakout sessions focus on specific topics, highlighting programmatic and operational innovations that strengthen volunteering and increase its impact; these will be conducted as panel presentations for sharing of cases of effective practices, problem-solving and innovations, trying to maximize participant participation in discussing critical issues and challenges.

The table of contents for the breakout sessions below is categorized by topics. Please click on the session titles to read specific session descriptions, see speaker bios and download presentations:

Policy Making

• Breakout 1.1: The advantages and disadvantages of policy makers taking an interest in volunteering
• Breakout 3.2: Enhancing volunteering through civil society and government collaboration

Innovation

• Breakout 1.2: Making best use of digitalization and online platforms to increase effectiveness
• Breakout 2.8: Showcasing tech platforms that support involving and managing volunteers
• Breakout 3.3: We fail, we learn, we try again, we succeed – some new approaches, perspectives and tools

Inclusion, Integration

• Breakout 1.3: Supporting refugees through volunteering – examples of the German response
• Breakout 2.1: Challenging disadvantage and embracing inclusion through volunteering

Youth

• Breakout 1.4: The role and impact of full time youth volunteer programs
• Breakout 1.5: Young citizens in action (1)
• Breakout 2.3: Young citizens in action (2)
• Breakout 3.4: Student volunteering – developing leadership, delivering community impact
• Breakout 3.7: Reflections on youth volunteering from East to West

SDGs

• Breakout 1.6: Taking action to deliver the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda
• Breakout 3.5: Technological solutions to engaging and mobilizing civic participation locally and globally

Local Leadership

• Breakout 1.7: The role of volunteer centers in providing local leadership for volunteering – a European perspective
• Breakout 1.8: Leadership for volunteering in tackling environmental challenges
• Breakout 3.6: Leadership for volunteering in delivering effective health and social care

Measuring

• Breakout 1.9: What is impact measurement? – Conceptual frameworks and evidence from research
• Breakout 2.2: Measuring impact examples from the world of corporate volunteering
• Breakout 3.8: How impact measurement can be effectively integrated into volunteer management processes
• Breakout 3.9: Examples of practical tools to measure impact of volunteer involvement

Corporate

• Breakout 1.10: High value partnerships that create impact
• Breakout 1.11: Taking your volunteer program to the next level
• Breakout 3.10: Structuring corporate volunteers programs for maximum inclusion
• Breakout 3.11: Creating meaningful skills based volunteer programs

Faith-based

• Breakout 2.4: The role of faith based organizations and their volunteer programs
• Breakout 3.1: Faith based volunteer involving organizations making a difference

National Leadership

• Breakout 1.12: Emerging leadership structures for volunteering
• Breakout 2.5: Renewal of national leadership

Aging Population

• Breakout 2.6: The benefits of engaging older people as volunteers

Humanitarian and Disaster Response

• Breakout 2.7: Ensuring psychological and physical safety of volunteers
• Breakout 3.12: Involving volunteers to build resilience, respond to disasters and aid in recovery

 

Breakout 1.1
The advantages and disadvantages of policy makers taking an interest in volunteering

Examples of integrated local volunteering policies and national policies giving recognition, support and protection to volunteering. Giving consideration to how you ensure recognition for volunteering and good practice remain a priority.

---

Breakout 1.2
Making best use of digitalization and online platforms to increase effectiveness

Showing how online resources can mobilize volunteers and provide an economic benefit; deliver on the SDG 2030 Agenda and successfully link individuals into volunteering.

---

Breakout 1.3
Supporting refugees through volunteering – examples of the German response

Building successful volunteer structures and processes to respond to the wave of refugees that came into Europe. Mobilizing organizations and individuals to take action, help out, opening their hearts and homes.

---

Breakout 1.4
The role and impact of full time youth volunteer programs

The experience of a full time volunteering program that has been operating in the UK since 1962; the development of Habitat for Humanity’s Young Leaders Build program, bringing together leadership and volunteering; the Hong Kong story of the 4C (confidence, care, commitment, courage) youth volunteering leadership project; cross border volunteering: the Germany/Ecuador exchange program.

---

Breakout 1.5
Young citizens in action (1)

Examples of youth volunteer projects – a global movement of young people; youth volunteering in schools; giving recognition to young volunteers and encouraging social action.

---

Breakout 1.6
Taking action to deliver the United Nation’s 2030 Agenda

Showcasing the diversity of response to the SDGs – the importance of local volunteer development, encouraging young people to be agents for change and how a famous hotel chain align volunteering to delivery of the SDGs.

---

Breakout 1.7
The role of volunteer centers in providing local leadership for volunteering – a European perspective

Exploring the challenges of strengthening local voluntary structures in Lithuania; responding to new ways of working with volunteers in Northern Ireland; and the success of collaboration in Germany between regional volunteer centres and Audi, a large corporation and global brand.

---

Breakout 1.8
Leadership for volunteering in tackling environmental challenges

Interesting examples from around the world –the Dutch tradition of environmental volunteering in urban spaces; an ecovoluntariate program in Peru funded by a travel business; youth volunteer service for Eco-Friendship in Taiwan.

---

Breakout 1.9
What is impact measurement? – Conceptual frameworks and evidence from research

Evidence from a range of research including exploring altruism levels and its correlation with well-being in Hong Kong; discovering the wealth of informal volunteering in Italy using the ILO Manual for measuring volunteering; a multi level approach to measuring the impact and effectiveness of volunteer efforts in Russia; and why and how NGOs in Bulgaria are measuring the impact of volunteering.

---

Breakout 1.10
High value partnerships that create impact

Well-functioning partnerships between corporations and global and community-based organizations are essential for a successful employee volunteer programs. How are these partnerships launched and sustained? How are creative programs developed and continuously improved so as to t benefit communities worldwide? The speakers in this workshop will share the secrets to their success.

---

Breakout 1.11
Taking your volunteer program to the next level

Once you have an excellent and engaging employee volunteer program, what else can you do? How do you improve upon your program and take it to the next level? How do you create more impact for communities, for employees, and for the company? Can you make it transformative? This panel’s speakers will share insights on this important topic.

---

Breakout 1.12
Emerging leadership structures for volunteering

Exploring the motivation and challenges of establishing a leadership for volunteering organisation. Answering the question, what does it take to get things going? Presenters will share their experience of developing leadership for volunteering – the why, the what and the how.

---

Breakout 2.1
Challenging disadvantage and embracing inclusion through volunteering

Changing lives through volunteering by promoting a culture of inclusion for people with a disability; enhancing services for deaf people; supporting prison inmates to be peer educators; and using co-production as an aid to enhance diversity.

---

Breakout 2.2
Measuring impact examples from the world of corporate volunteering

Evidence of what works from three corporations effectively using impact measurement to assess the economic and social value of the volunteer contribution.

---

Breakout 2.3
Young citizens in action (2)

Examples of youth volunteer projects – Tribes: Brazil’s largest youth volunteer movement; Scotland’s year of young people; and the local Augsburg ‘Change in’ project.

---

Breakout 2.4
The role of faith based organizations and their volunteer programs

Exploring the dynamic relationship between voluntary and religious convictions and the power of volunteering as an expression of faith.

---

Breakout 2.5
Renewal of national leadership

Sharing examples of those national leadership for volunteering organisations that have sustained and developed their activities over a period of decades. What has helped them build resilience and how do they measure their success.

---

Breakout 2.6
The benefits of engaging older people as volunteers

Insights into volunteering for older people as a means of enhancing well-being and how best to empower, encourage and involve older volunteers from building resilience in dealing with disaster to sustaining a healthy lifestyle.

---

Breakout 2.7
Ensuring psychological and physical safety of volunteers

How do you prepare those who respond to disasters for what they will see and experience – particularly if they are volunteers who are not accustomed to the physical and psychological danger so often faced by professional humanitarian personnel? Local, community volunteers are typically first to respond when their communities are affected. How should they be prepared to better face the physical and psychological dangers? And, how can we ensure that their expertise is valued and incorporated into planning and actions taken when external assistance appears on the scene? This panel of experts will share their best practices.

---

Breakout 2.8
Showcasing tech platforms that support involving and managing volunteers

An opportunity to see some digital products designed to support your volunteer management process. Presentations from BeCollective (Australia), Benevity (Canada), V2v (Brazil), Alaya (Switzerland).

---

Breakout 3.1
Faith based volunteer involving organizations making a difference

Showcasing leadership examples of involving and managing volunteers in faith-based organizations; working to provide practical support and bring about positive change for people and communities.

---

Breakout 3.2
Enhancing volunteering through civil society and government collaboration

Showcasing examples of government/civil society partnerships that work to enhance volunteering and support volunteer involvement. Examples from Korea, Australia and Colombia.

---

Breakout 3.3
We fail, we learn, we try again, we succeed – some new approaches, perspectives and tools

Exploring the use of innovation through the development of practice to improve volunteer management; and the use of technology and design thinking to improve the volunteer’s sense of community, engage youth volunteers and develop volunteer initiatives.

---

Breakout 3.4
Student volunteering – developing leadership, delivering community impact

Looking at student volunteering from a range of initiatives and perspectives – Yayasan Sukarelawan Siswa (YSS) Student Volunteers Foundation in Malaysia, a governmental organization; involving university students in searching for strategies that allow for sustainable development and growth of communities in Colombia and the Caribbean; a Canadian experience of engaging students to become changemakers by applying their learning to community support.

---

Breakout 3.5
Technological solutions to engaging and mobilizing civic participation locally and globally

Equipping volunteers to work effectively with young people, highlighting elements of a mixed-methods approach to volunteer development, which includes use of distance-technology and social media to increase our reach to mobilize, train and provide ongoing support. Empowering people through use of technology to assess the quality of public services. Using our phones and ‘WhatsApp’ as a tool to encourage and enable people to volunteer.

---

Breakout 3.6
Leadership for volunteering in delivering effective health and social care

A Canadian experience of providing young volunteers the opportunity to increase their awareness of community health needs; and exploring the importance and experience of hospital volunteers across three continents – USA, Ecuador and Finland.

---

Breakout 3.7
Reflections on youth volunteering from East to West

The City University’s research showing the democratic and social indicators of youth volunteering in Hong Kong; Points of Light research on youth & family volunteering across 4 continents (USA; France; Hong Kong; Brazil and UK); empirical findings from Students meet Society project in Germany looking at integration and participation of international students through volunteering.

---

Breakout 3.8
How impact measurement can be effectively integrated into volunteer management processes

Organizations using impact measurement – Children’s Hospices across Scotland; Ruach Tova, Good Deeds Day; and Techno International.

---

Breakout 3.9
Examples of practical tools to measure impact of volunteer involvement

An opportunity to find out more about the UK Volunteering Impact Assessment Toolkit; collective community measurement from the Netherlands; and the collection of data in Korea through the ‘Volunteer Archive’.

---

Breakout 3.10
Structuring Corporate Volunteers Programs for Maximum Inclusion

One of the goals of corporate volunteering is to engage employees in meaningful ways to help them give back to communities. However, finding opportunities for as many employees who want to volunteer can be challenging given their various interests, skills and job responsibilities. Learn about creative programs that engage a wide array of employees who are giving back through volunteering.

---

Breakout 3.11
Creating meaningful skills based volunteer programs

Many companies are attempting to create new and more impactful volunteer programs that better align with the competencies of their employees. They also want to reinforce their corporate brands and strategies. The speakers in this session represent very different companies and industries, yet they have each found a way to leverage their employees’ special skills in innovative volunteer programs.

---

Breakout 3.12
Involving volunteers to build resilience, respond to disasters and aid in recovery

Given the plethora of humanitarian and natural disasters occurring worldwide, there appears to be a need for new and innovative approaches to preparing for, responding to and expediting wherever possible, recovery from disasters. Evidence has shown that a multi-sector approach, while it can be difficult to plan and execute, can leverage important resources. Volunteers are a key component of those resources and they have an important role to play. Panelists in this session will share very different and effective approaches to using volunteers in the full cycle of disaster response.