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SHARING GLOBAL VOICES FEB 21st - 22nd 2011 REPORT

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“Sharing Global Voices” MeetingFinal Report21-22 February 2011

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Page 1: Sharing Global Voices Report

SHARING GLOBAL VOICES

FEB 21st - 22nd 2011

REPORT

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Report for Sharing Global Voices Meeting – 21st - 22nd February 2011

Table of Contents

Title Page

Background 3 Opening Statement 4 Meeting Objectives 5 Agenda 5 Participants’ Expectations 5 Ice Breaking Activity 5 Official UNV as a Focal Point for IYV+10 Presentation 5 The European Presence 6 2011 Planned Activities 6 Share Fair 7

Part 1 – 3 minute Presentation Turkey 8 Jordan 8 Brazil 8 Rwanda 8 Belgium 8 Australia 8 Poland 9 Latvia 9 Ecuador 9 Malta 9 Senegal 9 Burkina Faso 10 Sweden 10 Namibia 10 Nepal 10 Portugal 10 Burundi 11

Feedback from the Share Fair (expressed on Day 2) 11 Presentations from Participants 12

o Nepal 12 o Portugal 12 o Brazil 12 o Australia 12

DPI / NGO Conference 13 World Café Group Activity 13 UNV Slogans 14 Social networks for Continued Communication 15 Way Forward 15 Concluding Statement 15 Annexes 17

1. List of Participants

2. List of IYV+10 Team/ UNV Organising Team

3. Sharing Global Voices – Agenda

4. IYV+10 Sharing Global Voices Presentation

5. Recommendations from the World Café Session

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Report for Sharing Global Voices Meeting – 21st - 22nd February 2011

“Sharing Global Voices” Meeting 21-22 February 2011

Final Report

Background

The Sharing Global Voices workshop was convened by UNV at the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV + 10) and of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 (EYV 2011). On this occasion, UNV wished to provide an opportunity for northern committees and southern committees and coordinating bodies marking the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers to meet, exchange experiences, learn from each other and network with each other.

The main objectives of this two-day meeting co-funded by the Youth in Action Programme of the European Commission, are to ensure wide information-sharing among participants, provide an opportunity for mutual learning, share good practices (including through a “Share Fair”), discuss specific topics related to volunteerism, and share activity plans for 2011 and beyond. The latter is of special significance as we plan towards two plenary meetings of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2011 to be devoted to follow-up on the International Year of Volunteers and the commemoration of its tenth anniversary. The Share Fair will also provide an opportunity for UNV staff at headquarters to get a stronger sense of action ongoing and planned across the world.

The meeting was attended by 17 national committees, totalling 21 participants, as follows:

- 6 national coordinating bodies for the European Year of Volunteering 2011 (NCBs) from the European Union: Belgium, Latvia, Malta, Portugal, Poland, Sweden;

- 11 national IYV+10 committees from: Australia, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi (2 representatives), Ecuador, Jordan, Namibia, Nepal (2 representatives), Rwanda, Senegal, Turkey

- The European Commission was represented through the DG Education and Culture, Youth Program and European volunteer involving organisations promoting the EYV 2011 were represented by EYV Alliance.

Simona Costanzo Sow, IYV+10 Project Manager, and her project team organised the Sharing Global Voices meeting with the support of UNV. The event was co-funded by the Youth in Action Programme of the European Commission. Mr Henri Fourcault from Better Management Practice was the Facilitator of the meeting. The list of participants is attached in Annex 1.

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Opening Statement Flavia Pansieri, UNV Executive Coordinator, delivered the opening statement. She began by welcoming the participants and noting the great achievements of volunteer organisations around the world since 2001; the International Year of Volunteers (IYV). She reminded the audience that when the international community first decided, 10 years ago, to celebrate an International Year of Volunteers, it focused on four key pillars for action: recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion. In an attempt to replicating the success of the many and varied committees involved 10 years ago, she explained that this meeting would be the first in the year of the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) to engage a number of IYV+10 national committees as well as some of the National Coordinating Bodies (NCBs) involved in marking the European Year of Volunteering (EYV2011). Ms. Pansieri reiterated to the participants that the main objectives of this two-day meeting were to ensure wide information-sharing among participants, to provide an opportunity for mutual learning, to share good practices (including through a “Share Fair”), to discuss specific topics related to volunteerism on a local, national and international level, and share planned activities for 2011 and beyond.

She outlined the key events planned for this year, including the DPI / NGO Conference scheduled for 3-5 September in Bonn, and emphasized the special significance of the two plenary meetings of the sixty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly in December 2011, which will be devoted to follow-up on the International Year of Volunteers and the commemoration of its tenth anniversary.

She compared the celebration of IYV+10 to potentially being seen in the same light as the single event of letting off a firework which is beautiful for a certain period but then fades. She encouraged the participants to instead see this year as the spark that ignites the fire of volunteering and let their continued involvement beyond 2011 stoke the flames that will last for many years to come.

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Meeting Objectives The objectives of the workshop were framed as follows:

Ensure wide information sharing among participants and deepen partnership;

Provide an opportunity for mutual learning;

Share good practices and activity plans for 2011 and beyond and;

Discuss specific topics related to volunteerism Agenda The workshop took place over two full days, starting at 9h00 and ending at 18h30 on the first day and at 18h00 the second day. The agenda is attached at Annex 3. Participants’ Expectations At the beginning of the workshop, participants were asked to state their expectations of the programme. Their expectations followed similar themes and can be summarised as follows:

Exchanging good practices among participants in: Strengthening the capacity of National Committees to promote volunteering Using volunteers to support the MDGs Dealing with governments so as to be able to contribute to development

efforts as well as influence policy and legislation.

Networking beyond the meeting and IYV+10 so that all participants can continue supporting each other and share information.

Learning from each other, both when it comes to dealing with difficult situations and also sharing best practice strategies.

Raise awareness of the Volunteer networks which can be formed through attendance of meetings such as Sharing Global Voices.

To share ideas for planned activities for IYV+10 and beyond. Ice Breaking Activity The Facilitator encouraged the participants to engage with each other in an informal manner by sharing their names, the country they were from, their roles in volunteerism and something unique about themselves. This activity highlighted for all the breadth and depth of the calibre of participants present and uncovered some very unique talents indeed. UNV as a Focal Point for IYV+10 Presentation Simona Costanzo Sow presented a consolidated view of the ideas behind the declaration of 2011 as IYV+10 along with the four pillars and what they mean in the context of volunteering. Part of the content also included a list of various stakeholders and planned activities for the year ahead. The dates and locations of the four regional meetings were discussed as well as the Global Conference scheduled for June in Kenya. Please refer to the presentation in Annex 4. A generic presentation on IYV+10 can also be downloaded from www.worldvolunteerweb.org

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The European Presence Frode dal Fjedavli, Programme Manager at the Youth in Action programme (DG Education and Culture) of the European Commission, introduced the European Year of Volunteering 2011 and the European Voluntary Service (EVS). He highlighted that this year was more about awareness rather than any kind of political undercurrent or agenda. Some of the challenges he spoke of in the European context were the disparity between what volunteers wish to do to engage in their community and the opportunities which are available. He also highlighted the fact that the European Union does not recognise the concept of full-time volunteers and so government and social benefits such as health care are not extended to volunteers. The presentation also brought to the fore the idea that experiences gained by a volunteer are outside the scope of formalised education and oftentimes this type of learning is not recognised. Mr Dal Fjedavli outlined the 4 objectives of the EYV 2011 and advocated for the communications tools which are available for National Coordinating Bodies within the EU to access. He also encouraged other participants from outside of the EU to access the information to gain some ideas and further promote their activities. Céline Barlet, from the EYV2011 Alliance, then presented the experience, challenges and good practices of the EYV 2011 Alliance, emphasising that the perception people generally have of volunteers is often not aligned with the full potential of what volunteering can achieve in a society. The objectives of the Alliance are to coordinate civil society in Europe, develop a policy agenda for volunteering in Europe, provide for mobility and capacity building as well as to disseminate information. Ms Barlet also described the 6 Working Groups of the Alliance which have two co-chairs per group. 2011 Planned Activities Using a clothes line as a time line, divided into 12 sections from January to December, participants were asked to tie with clothes pegs the main activities they planned for this special year. The result was a colourful long line of hanging papers, each containing an important activity to mark IYV+10. We will be formatting this into a yearlong representation of the planned activities.

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Share Fair The workshop included a share fair- an opportunity for all participants to share information and materials from their organisations on IYV + 10 and get to know each other better and to engage each other in one-on-one discussions on their respective experiences, thus enabling them to learn from each other. The Share Fair, and it took place on the afternoon of Day 1. The Share Fair was organised as follows:

- Part I was reserved for participants only and lasted two hours. They first spent half-an-hour setting up their stand with posters, brochures, bags, snacks, drinks and a few artefacts. For the remainder of the time, with everyone sitting in a circle, each made a 3 minute presentation of a few activities, challenges and good practices. It was quite a moving and bonding experience. They then spent the rest of the time visiting each other’s stands for more interaction.

- Part 2 was opened to UNV staff for the purpose of giving them a unique opportunity to meet and get to know better the people and national committees with whom they interacted by email or telephone from their offices. Around 50 UNV staff came to the Share Fair. Each National Committee representative made a 1 minute presentation, after which everyone mingled and engaged in more in-depth individual discussions.

UNV cameramen were present and filmed the Share Fair and reporters interviewed several participants.

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Part 1 – 3 minute Country Presentations Turkey – At present the country is trying to establish an IYV+10 National Committee and activities for the year ahead will flow from that established body. Jordan – The National Steering Committee for IVD is now acting as the Jordanian National Steering Commitee for IYV+10. Although a relatively small committee, they are seeking government support as youth unemployment is a huge challenge being faced in Jordan. This poses a large obstacle to volunteerism as it is seen as a threat to gaining paid employment which is culturally more of an emphasis. One best practice which was shared was that the Princess Basma Youth Resource Centre liaise with the private sector to better structure their volunteer programs so that volunteers get the most out of their experience. Brazil –The activity which was shared was the visual poster campaign which parallels the volunteer service that the planet performs to those activities done by volunteers. There is also a National Conference planned for March which will culminate in a volunteer march. The challenges which were mentioned included the raising of funds to allow for a nation-wide survey to be conducted on volunteerism. Monitoring the number of volunteers in Brazil and also engaging in dialogue with government at all levels was also seen as a challenge. A best practice which was shared was the alliance formed with the Brazilian Corporate Volunteer Council to assist in gaining information on how corporate companies deal with volunteers. Rwanda – Formalised volunteering is a relatively new concept in Rwanda as it was previously seen as a social responsibility. A proposed activity for IYV+10 is to recruit a group of Youth Volunteers who will tour the country to promote the Millennium Development Goals. A challenge that is faced in Rwanda is that unemployed youth are reluctant to volunteer as it is seen as a disadvantage in gaining paid employment. One best practice was the formalisation of a volunteer structure by the Ministry of Youth. There are also plans to engage in a Volunteer Mapping exercise and there will be volunteer awards presented during the year. Belgium – The three language group (German, French and Flemish) all have their own committees. The ‘I Volunteer’ activity is planned to encourage youth to engage in or continue to volunteer. There will also be special volunteer activities on the ‘Day of Europe’ in May. An example of a best practice is that the makeup of the board draws from many sectors including social, corporate and government. Australia – There were many initiatives outlined including the State of Volunteering in Australia Report, the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities Program and an online self-assessment program for governments (local, state and federal) to assess how they can better integrate volunteers and volunteering opportunities into their operations. A challenge that was articulated was that in profiling volunteers it became apparent that sometimes it appears the government takes volunteers for granted.

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A best practice which was shared was the Victor Online database which allows volunteers to be matched with volunteer opportunities. Poland – During the EYV 2011, Poland will be hosting the closing ceremony in Warsaw. This will allow the NCB to showcase the different types of volunteering that exists within the community. Challenges that exist include the lack of one definitive research paper that articulates the impact of volunteerism on society. There is also a low level of prestige attached to volunteering in Poland as it used to be a State ordered activity every citizen had to do and as a result without adult modelling, the youth have inherited the idea that volunteering is not ‘cool.’ Latvia – The participants were encouraged to visit Latvia on Europe Day in May to see for themselves how volunteering works in that country as there is an excellent action plan for volunteering. Ecuador – The volunteer activities in Ecuador have included tree planting programs to combat deforestation and the formation of a joint volunteer writing group. It is estimated that in excess of $1bn worth of work has been completed by volunteers which equates to 45 times the investment by government into community development. At present there is no concrete law related to volunteering and that is a challenge they wish to overcome. Aspirationally, there is a desire to have a formal volunteering framework accompanied by legislation to show that volunteers truly are having an impact on development of the country. Malta – Volunteer events occurring in Malta this year include employee supported volunteering activities during May and a web portal which has been developed to offer volunteer organisations support. A challenge has been the need for reform and amendments to the current volunteer laws of Malta. A current best practice is the work being done with the Maltese skills recognition committee to have those skills which volunteers gain during their service be officially recognised. Senegal – There are many volunteer initiatives already in existence in Senegal including a large National Committee which promotes and coordinates volunteers. There is also Civic Services program which allows young people to be associated with volunteer activities for at least two years and is being used as a way of combating poverty. Senegal is also developing and promoting the idea of senior volunteers, drawing from the wealth of knowledge and capacity elders in the community have to provide. Two best practices which were shared included the use of a Global Village system where ideas from around the world were gathered and reviewed for use in Senegal. There is also a program to recruitment Senegalese nationals from overseas to come back to their country of origin and bring with them their skills, knowledge and willingness to help in the further development of the country.

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Burkina Faso – During this year, there is a film festival to promote volunteerism and other such activities designed to attract the attention and engagement of young people. The Institute of Volunteers have regular meetings which aim to bring people together to promote and celebrate volunteers and volunteer activities. Burkina Faso has a concrete volunteer framework and accompanying legislation. Sweden – Volunteering in Sweden is part of the culture with 50% of the population engaged in some form of volunteering. There are university degrees and courses available which are based on the concept of volunteering. This year, the town of Uppsala has offered discount cards to volunteers and there has also been the development and retailing of a special volunteer cake. The challenges faced in Sweden include a lack of funding for volunteer programs yet there is a constant reliance by government for volunteers to fill in the gaps they leave in community development initiatives. A best practice is the regular distribution of a volunteer newsletter that provides information and updates on volunteer activities and opportunities. Namibia – The concept of volunteerism has been recently formalised as previously, volunteering was seen as a societal responsibility. After a meeting in 2008 of the International Volunteer Day (IVD) Committee, issues were identified and discussions about formulating a volunteer framework led to the drafting of a volunteer policy document. There is currently a Volunteering for Development Volunteer Committee in Namibia which facilitates discussions about volunteering as well as activities and opportunities for volunteering. The challenges which are faced include the battle people have to be able to volunteer due to their impoverished state, however as Namibia is internationally ranked as a middle income country, it is very difficult to attract funding to further develop volunteering in the country. Nepal – The formation of the National Development Volunteer Service means that volunteers have been able to create a link between the community and the government. A challenge that was identified was the balance between the formalisation of volunteer activities and involvement and the often times spontaneous need for volunteers. The best practice shared is the national initiative of a National Volunteer Steering Committee to oversee activities related to IYV+10 and volunteer activities. Portugal – The results from two studies which have been done into volunteering have resulted in a better understanding of local volunteering as well as a bank /interface between volunteers and organisations which need them. The National Council to Promote Volunteering is also very active in Portugal. Portugal also has an online volunteer page with 6, 000 people signed up as ‘fans.’ Engaging youth in volunteer activities is seen as a challenge and efforts are being made to promote it as a ‘cool life practice.’ A best practice initiative is the linking of the preceding and following European Years to EYV 2011.

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Burundi – A commission has been formed in Burundi to decide on the formation of a National Committee for volunteering as there is currently no formal coordination of volunteer activities between the organisations active in that country. Engaging youth is also a challenge in Burundi as this is seen as an obstacle to paid employment. In concluding this first part of the Share Fair, Simona Costanzo Sow thanked the participants for their interesting and informative contributions. She was pleased to see that so many countries recognised that IYV+10 was not a single event in itself but part of a continuum in a volunteering landscape which has previously existed and functioned and will continue to do so beyond 2011. The idea of discounts for volunteers in lieu of payment was cited as a great initiative as was the idea of Senior Volunteers. Ms Costanzo Sow referred to an initiative in the host city of Bonn where children teach senior citizens how to master various forms of technology such as computers and in return the seniors teach the children about the city of Bonn and its history. Feedback from the Share Fair (expressed on Day 2) Mara Basanovic – Australia It allowed for a better understanding of the commonality of the

issues facing volunteerism in each country.

Elsa Maria Pires Chambel –

Portugal

It was a great way to highlight that although the participants are all

from different backgrounds, they share one spirit.

Dace Ratniece – Latvia The question was asked as to the involvement of the other EYV

2011 NCBs to which the reply was that all were invited but only 6

attended.

Robert Farrugia – Malta The global makeup of the conference was useful so that participants

can learn from each other and see how volunteering is working in

other contexts.

Ertugrul Senoglu – Turkey The Share Fair was found to be a peaceful and friendly platform

from which to gain information and knowledge from each other.

Aleksandra Krugly – Poland Pleased that this event was being framed as the start of contact and

information sharing rather than one single event.

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Presentations from Participants The following committees made extra presentations on their National Committees experiences: Nepal – The existence of several national level trusts dating back to the 1950s was explained as was the fact that the Government of Nepal also has several volunteering bodies which oversee activities such as the mandatory graduate volunteer service program; Nepalese students are required to engage in a period of compulsory volunteering before being able to attain graduate status. The rural and private sectors in Nepal also have volunteer representative bodies which allow volunteers to assist in development all over the country. Volunteers were able to access areas where the government was unable to during the internal conflict and this has left the legacy of volunteer work being done particularly in rural areas. Volunteers in Nepal are usually given a small stipend to sustain themselves. Volunteer goals are closely aligned with the MDGs and Nepal encourages the presence of international volunteers as well the return of Nepalese nationals living abroad. Nepal’s IYV+10 activities and promotions have attracted many members and partner organisations. Portugal – Pictures of the EYV 2011 event held in Lisbon from the 3rd – 9th February were displayed. It was also explained that in August 2010, 51 representatives from civil society and government formed the National Committee for Volunteering. During IYV+10 there will be 10 volunteer awards, Portuguese television will be promoting 10 programs per week which feature the theme of volunteering. Further to this, phone cards, stamps and individual sugar packets have been designed to promote volunteering. Brazil – The Brazilian Corporate Volunteer Council is made up of members who each have their own volunteer programs but come together to share ideas and initiatives with each other to further develop their programs. A seminar which was held in Rio de Janeiro on the 2nd December 2010 launched IYV+10 in that country and saw the development of a volunteer campaign. The posters which highlight the volunteer nature of the planet were displayed during the presentation and there are plans to share the banners on a world-wide scale so that they may be customised and used in other countries. Australia – In 2001 for the International Year of Volunteers, there was a government representative appointed and a volunteering network was established as well as resource centres. AUD$42m was spent in promoting the year whereas in 2011, the funding has been AUD$1m ($200,000 from the Western Australian Government.) This limited financial assistance, however, has resulted in a creative and collaborative network being formed. At the meeting of Federal Ministers later in March, it will be highlighted that the challenges faced by volunteers and volunteering organisations are still the same as in 2001 and that further funding and that encouraging people to take part in volunteer activities (for which they should be recognised) should occur in a fun, safe and enjoyable environment. It was highlighted that 97% of volunteers go online to find their volunteer opportunities and that 60% of volunteers are between the ages of 18-34.

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Whilst the State of Volunteering Australia (SVA) Report will assist in gaining a national definition of what volunteering is, however as it does not include statistics on Australians who volunteer on an international basis, corporate volunteers or government volunteers, the UNV State of the World Volunteering Report will also be used to lobby government. Volunteering Australia is still looking for better ways to capture both formal and informal ways in which volunteering helps the community so as to be able to draw a more holistic picture. DPI / NGO Conference The Chief of the UNV Partnership Section, Marco Van Der Ree gave a presentation on the DPI / NGO Conference scheduled for 3-5 September 2011 in Bonn. The Conference Theme will be “Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens”. This event is designed to serve as a liaison between the UN and other NGOs and will be hosted in the context of IYV+10. There will also be consideration given to other UN environment agencies which operate in Bonn and therefore will highlight the sustainability angle. It is hoped that a call for action document is one of the results of the conference. A request was made that all participants encourage potential involvement in the DPI-NGO conference by national or international civil society organizations they are aware of. More information in relation to the conference will be uploaded onto World Volunteer Web as well as the Sharing Global Voices teamworks page. The Polish representative also offered to share the information with the Eastern European and Caucasian Partnership Organisations. World Café Group Activity Most of the morning of Day 2 consisted of a World Café group activity. Four themes were explored at four tables, each facilitated by a UNV staff resource person:

Influencing volunteerism policy and research agenda at the national level (Robert Toé UNV);

Mobilising different stakeholders and sustainability of partnerships beyond 2011 (Peter Devereux UNV);

Organising high-level events (Francesco Galtieri UNV);

Effective advocacy for public awareness (Ibrahim Hussein UNV). Participants were asked to spend around 30 minutes at each table and come up with recommendations that they would then bring to a counter that had 4 boards, each with a theme. If the ‘shop assistants’ deemed their recommendations worthy, they were rewarded with chocolate money. Before ‘paying’ for the ideas, ‘shop assistants’ were asked to first check the quality of the recommendations and to turn down duplicate recommendations which may have already been posted on the thematic boards by other groups. Starting with an introduction to and summary of the deliberations of the groups having discussed the same theme before them, in order to build on each other’s content, the facilitators remained at their table the whole time and engaged each new group around the same theme. In this

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way all table groups, rotating around the four tables, had an opportunity to discuss all four topics. In the afternoon, the four facilitators presented a summary of what had come out of the four groups that had stopped at their table. Following the four reports, it was agreed that the office of the IYV+10 Manager would summarise the recommendations emerging from the plenary discussions that followed facilitators’ reports, then circulate them among participants for additional comments, thus facilitating the production of a single set of recommendations coming from the workshop. These recommendations can be found in Annex 5.

UNV Slogans Philip Sen, the Communication Officer for IYV+10 facilitated a group activity aimed at identifying the preferred slogan for IYV+10. Participants had to choose between 5 possible slogans:

Inspiring millions of others

Volunteers + 10 : It all adds up

Volunteering: a whole new world

Discover what volunteers can do

Discover the volunteering difference After several rounds of group selections, two slogans stood out from the others, as follows:

Volunteering: a whole new world: 11 voices

Discover what volunteers can do: 8 voices The Communication Officer indicated that this was not a binding vote, but that the results would be taken into account to inform the final selection.

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Social Networks for Continued Communication World Volunteer Web (www.worldvolunteerweb.org) was presented by the IYV+10 Project Manager as a tool to engage stakeholders. She called for participants to use the tools and information available on the site to engage further in IYV+10 activities as publications, including the logo, power point presentation and brochure are all available to be downloaded. The UN Volunteers facebook page was also highlighted (www.facebook.com/unvolunteers) and the participants we called upon to contact Philip Sen if there was any content that they may wish to have linked or promoted on that page. Mr Benjamin Kumpf from the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section (VKIS) explained the Teamworks tool which is connected to the UNDP. A Sharing Global Voices page has already been created and all participants were invited to join. This will provide a space and an information sharing platform where documents, photos and discussions can be uploaded. It is hoped that the Teamworks platform can be used to exchange good practices especially in overcoming challenges, how to use volunteers to support the MDGs as well as networking and having continued contact with other participants. The question was put to the participants as to whether they had any other suggestions for keeping in contact. There was a general request for the email list to be distributed and proactive engagement in the tools discussed was encouraged. Mara Basanovic – Australia: Suggested that a workshop be scheduled for February 2012 to

reflect on IYV+10 and share ideas for ways of continuing the momentum.

Ertugrul Senoglu – Turkey: Requested that participants invite each other to attend

activities/events/conferences they were involved in or hosting or at least keep each other

informed of such activities.

Way Forward In her conclusion, Simona Costanzo Sow, the IYV+10 Project Manager, outlined the process that would be followed to bring closure to the World Café group work articulated around the four themes that were debated by participants in the morning of Day 2. She also encouraged participants to stay in touch with each other and urged them to continue in their efforts at the national level to overcome the challenges they face by staying united beyond this workshop. She stressed that volunteerism was a largely untapped potential in support of MDGs and that Sharing Global Voices should be seen as a landmark on the continuum of volunteer effort and partnership. Concluding Statement Naheed Haque, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator, gave the concluding remarks. She congratulated participants for their engagement during the two days of the workshop and

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thanked them for their attendance. She also noted the great expansion registered in the volunteer work around the world since 2001. Ms. Haque emphasised that this year was key in making sure that the momentum generated would continue beyond 2011. She also noted that sustainability had emerged as a common theme and applauded the desire of the participants to initiate ways in which interest generated during IYV+10 could continue. Ms Haque also referred to paragraph 17 of 2010 MDG summit Outcome Document which highlights the fact that governments should be committed to recognising civil society organisations and the impact of volunteerism (“17. We call on civil society, including non-governmental organizations, voluntary associations and foundations, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders at the local, national, regional and global levels, to enhance their role in national development efforts as well as their contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, and commit as national Governments to the inclusion of these stakeholders.”). In particular, she stressed that the two plenary sessions of the General Assembly in December 2011 in New York, dedicated to the follow up of IYV, would make a big difference for the cause of volunteerism and that it is a huge honour to have those two sessions dedicated to the topic of volunteerism. Ms. Haque reflected favourably on suggestions made during the workshop:

the possibility of organising a parallel summit in December in New York to bring together volunteerism and civil society;

the formation of a World Volunteer Coalition to encourage cooperation on a global scale, and;

the possibility of having a volunteer song for the world, that would serve as a rallying anthem.

Ms Haque also made mention of the multi-media exhibition to take place at the New York Headquarters during the UN General Assembly in December, in which to showcase the work of volunteers around the world. She also implored the participants to give thought to the types of visions and plans of action which might be able to be presented at these General Assembly sessions in December 2011. Ms Haque finally thanked all of the participants, staff and interns for their valuable contributions to the Sharing Global Voices Meeting and closed the meeting.

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Annex 1 – List of Participants

NAME ORGANISATION National Committee Email

Mara Basanovic Volunteering Western Australia Volunteering Australia [email protected]

Liza Gernaey Vlaams Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk, Belgium

EYV 2011 National Coordinating Body (Flanders)

[email protected]

Heloisa Coelho Riovoluntario, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rede Brasil Voluntario (NCB) [email protected]

Ibrahim Ouédraogo National Volunteer Programme of Burkina Faso

National Committee [email protected]

Corneille Ntawurutimana Youth and National Coordinator of Youth Centers, Burundi

Volunteering Burundi [email protected]

Francois Xavier Buyoya Red Cross Burundi President of Red Cross National Comitteee

[email protected]

Julio César Benítez Scouts Ecuador Volunteering Round Table, Ecuador [email protected] or [email protected]

Jenine Jaradat Princess Basma Youth Resource Center, Jordan

National Steering Committee for IVD and National IYV+10 Comittee

[email protected]

Dace Ratniece Ministry of Education and Science, Latvia

EYV2011 National Coordinating Body, Latvia (NCB)

[email protected]

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Robert Farrugia Malta Council for Voluntary Organisations

EYV2011 National Coordinating Body, Malta (NCB)

[email protected]

Jonathan Kambirongo National Planning Commission, Namibia

Volunteer For Development Coordinating Committee (V4D-CC)

[email protected] [email protected]

Jagadish C. Pokharel Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission

National Volunteer Steering Committee, Nepal

[email protected]

Prem. Bdr. Kunwar Government of Nepal, National Planning Commission

National Volunteer Steering Committee, Nepal

[email protected]

Elza Maria Pires Chambel Ministério do Trabalho e da Solidariedade Social, Portugal

EYV2011 National Coordinating Body, Portugal(NCB)

[email protected] [email protected]

Aleksandra Krugly Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, Poland

EYV2011 National Coordinating Body, Poland (NCB)

[email protected]

Patrick Karangwa Parlement des Jeunes Rwandais, Rwanda

[email protected]

Papa Birama Thiam National Committee for the Promotion and Coordination of Volunteerism, Senegal

IYV+10 Committee, Senegal [email protected] or [email protected]

Emmy Bornemark Ungdomsstyrelsen , The Swedish National Board for Youth Affairs

EYV2011 National Coordinating Body, Sweden (NCB)

[email protected]

Ertugrul Senoglu GSM - Youth Services Centre, Turkey IYV+10 Committee, Çankaya Municipality, Ankara

[email protected]

Frode Dal Fjeldavli EC - Directorate General for Education and Culture

[email protected]

Céline Barlet EYV 2011 Alliance [email protected]

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Annex 2 – List of IYV+10 Team/UNV Organising Team

Simona Costanzo Sow Project Manager for IYV+10 [email protected]

Faisal Yousaf Partnerships Development

Specialist

[email protected]

Jennifer Bose Intern [email protected]

Judy Monast Administrative Assistant [email protected]

Kristen Pyrz-Brown Intern [email protected]

Philip Sen Communications Associate [email protected]

Rosmarie Jah Associate Partnerships Officer [email protected]

Yanick Michaud-Marcotte Administrative Associate [email protected]

Jung Yuen Park Intern [email protected]

Peter Devereux Partnership Specialist Civil

Society

[email protected]

Ibrahim Hussein Portfolio Manager, South Asia [email protected]

Francesco Galtieri Portfolio Manager, Central

Africa (North)

[email protected]

Robert Toe Portfolio Manager, West and

Central Africa

[email protected]

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Annex 3 - Sharing Global Voices – Agenda

Sunday Monday, February 21 Tuesday, February 22 Arrival

08:15 Pickup by shuttle at hotel 9:00 Start of meeting Room 2112

09:15 – 09:45 Opening and introduction Opening remarks Flavia Pansieri, UNV Executive Coordinator

IYV+10 presentation Simona Costanzo Sow, IYV+10 Project Manager

09:45 Introduction of participants, Expectations and Objectives

10:30: Coffee Break

11:00 – 11:45 The European Dimension The European Year of Volunteering and the European Voluntary Service (EVS) Frode dal Fjedavli, Programme Manager, DG Education and Culture

EYV2011 Alliance, Céline Barlet

11: 45 – 12:30 The time line for 2011: highlighting major events

8:15 Pickup by shuttle at hotel 9:00 Start of meeting Room 2112 9:15 – 9:45 Info session: DPI/NGO Conference in Bonn with Q&A 9:45 Plenary: introducing working groups 10.00 – 12.30 World café Group work: exchange of experiences: (11.00 – 11.30 - Coffee Break)

1. Influencing volunteerism policy and research agenda at national level

2. Mobilizing different stakeholders and sustainability of partnerships beyond 2011 3. Organizing high level events

4. Effective advocacy for Public Awareness

12:30-14:00 Lunch ( 29th

floor ) 12:30 – 14:00 Lunch (29th

floor)

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14:00 – 14:30 Preparing and setting up the Share Fair Room 1916 14.30– 16:00 Share Fair Part 1 Discussions with participants only 16:00-16:30 Coffee Break 16:30-18:00 18h00 Share Fair Part 2 Open to all UNV staff 18:30-19:00 End of session – return to Hotel

14:00 – 16:30 Report from working groups Recommendations based on results 16:30 – 17:00 Collaborative spaces for staying connected: Introduction to Teamworks 17:00 – 17:45 Recap and way forward 17:45 Closing remarks Naheed Haque, Deputy Executive Coordinator 18:00 Return to Hotel

Dinner offered by UNV at the Hotel Dinner offered by UNV at the Hotel

*The Share Fair is an occasion for participants to share their experiences, highlights the success stories of their

organization and relevant activities with other participants and the UNV staff

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Annex 4 – IYV+10 Sharing Global Voices Presentation

Marking the10th Anniversary

of the International Year of

Volunteers

Sharing Global Voices, Bonn

21st February 2011

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Report for Sharing Global Voices Meeting – 21st - 22nd February 2011

Annex 5 – Recommendations Resulting from the World Café Session

Recommendations - Group 1: Influencing volunteerism policy and research

agenda at national level

Recommendations were divided in two sub-groups

A) Influencing research agenda

Involve academia in activities around volunteering at all stages to create

awareness on research about volunteerism and not wait to get in touch with

researchers only for research purpose e.g. as members IYV+10 Committees

or other activities around volunteering in order to promote ownership of

volunteering;

Creating and maintaining a knowledge platform in the form of a central „bank‟

on volunteering research – to connect researchers with practitioners in the

volunteering and civil society arenas and avoid duplications;

Identify clear research objectives, target the right partners and respect

scientific standards;

Map research activities being undertaken through forums, meeting and

conferences in order to identify challenges and who is doing what;

B) Influencing policy

When working on policy on volunteerism, it is necessary to start with a

framework which has been negotiated by consensus and then make sure to

work with the right government institution that believes in volunteerism and

can influence policy-making. Lobbying should permeate various levels of

government. Commitment needs to be encouraged as well as the

sustainability of the framework;

Have a tangible expression linked to GDP to present to government which

highlights the contribution of volunteering in the country. This will encourage

the government to invest more into volunteerism;

SWVR should be used to influence government policy beyond 2011.

Recommendations - Group 2: Mobilizing different stakeholders and

sustainability of partnerships beyond 2011

Identify and define diverse stakeholders – governments, private sector, media

and civil society in order to cultivate the ownership of diverse sectors for

volunteerism;

Work through participatory processes on an inclusive and agreed definition of

volunteering that captures its meaning and diverse global expressions as a

basis for joint action;

Use IYV + 10 as a vehicle to bring together national and international

volunteer schemes and initiatives that can contribute to development goals like

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the MDGs eg bringing together people from EYV and the South around a

shared agenda;

Use activities during IYV+10 to develop and strengthen long term plans and

policy (volunteer infrastructure) eg inclusion of volunteering in school

curriculum;

Transforming the roles of IYV + 10 Committees into national structures that

continue to advocate for volunteer infrastructure beyond IYV + 10. Work

through existing national institutions, civil society and corporate umbrella

groups to create coalitions that use volunteerism as a tool for civic

engagement;

Resource mobilization for long term partnerships on volunteerism beyond IYV

+ 10;

Educate the media on the importance of volunteerism.

Recommendations - Group 3: Organizing high level events

Checklist for high level meetings to ensure the best use of resources;

Process, content and opportunities;

Process

Need to plan early, (media, high level people, venues etc) good team of

organizers, give a value to everyone‟s contribution to encourage

engagement;

Briefing the high level people attending the meetings;

Choose credible testimonials to promote the prior connections of

organizations to volunteerism;

Regular and clear communication of events to interested parties so that

the event is meaningful;

Communicate effectively towards the event to raise momentum

Always consider the cultural context;

Content

Clear objectives prior to each event (specify what the desired outcome

from each event);

Clearly identify your key audience;

Design the content in a way to make the event meaningful for participants

Have a communication strategy;

Encourage involvement of participants through entertainment/fun, in order

to better mark memories;

Mark the event with the traditional word for volunteerism;

More broadly build on cultural ways of volunteering;

Use culturally specific elements (dance etc) to highlight events as well as

unique/surprising ways of engaging participants;

Establish a follow up mechanism (to pursue the scope of the event or

monitor the implementation of its recommendations/plan of action).

Opportunities

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Look at global Calendar and use “marking events” already in people‟s

agendas;

Use historical days and other meaningful days in each culture to highlight

to role of volunteerism in those areas or in supporting the celebrations of

those days;

Coordination of complementary events;

Pick those events that by cultural heritage have a are more natural link to

civic mobilization;

Organize parallel social event/forum around the UN General Assembly

sessions in Dec 2011.

Success indicators for high-level event

Level of participation of the targeted audience;

Media coverage;

Follow up mechanism / sustainability of the initiatives launched/promoted

by the event.

Recommendations - Group 4: Effective advocacy for Public Awareness

Use technology advancements (IT, social media and designated portals) to

reach the broader community to mobilize them for volunteer activities as well

as promote public awareness;

Use the internet to reach hard-to-reach populations, and to involve community

members who can only volunteer their efforts virtually;

Linkages between national, regional and global efforts;

Conferences, symposiums, volunteer networks, meetings;

Caravans campaigns to reach communities through sports, music, other

events promoting MDGs (buses with youth advocates, personalities);

Participation in high level events;

Oral transmission by community leaders (priests, Imams);

Forum theatre and community theatre;

Use of volunteer role models (celebrities, politicians, sports people) in high

level events and competitions, tournaments etc;

Offer volunteer services prior to the event to assist in the preparation;

Volunteer created music/songs/anthem/CD-DVD to capture volunteer effort at

the local level and thoughts around the impact of volunteerism in their

particular community/region/country;

Volunteer photo-book highlighting the volunteer efforts from around the world

Collaborating with private sector companies to use their products to promote

volunteerism;

Arrangement with film advertising volunteering;

Traditional story telling through media to reach communities (using local

languages);

Audio books;

Universal Volunteer colour symbol.

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United Nations Volunteers is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

Le programme VNU est administré par le Programme des Nations Unies pour le développement (UNDP).

El Programa VNU es administrado por el Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarollo (PNUD).

United Nations Volunteers

Street: Hermann-Ehlers-Strasse 10, 53113 Bonn, Germany

Postal: Postfach 260 111, D-53153 Bonn, Germany

Tel: +49 228 8152000 Fax: +49 228 8152001

Email: [email protected]

Online: www.unvolunteers.org

www.worldvolunteerweb.org

www.onlinevolunteering.org