EYV FLOW - Issue 11-12, July-August 2011

Welcome to the 11-12th EYV Flow, the EYV 2011 Alliance Newsletter. If you have any suggestion about the EYV Flow or contributions for future editions please contact the EYV 2011 Alliance secretariat. In the text or through hyperlinks you can find EYV 2011 Alliance news together with profiles of the members, a "city focus" and announcements. Please subscribe on the EYV 2011 Alliance Web Portal to receive the EYV Flow directly to your e-mail and help us to map the readership.

EYV 2011 Alliance engage stakeholders 

The European Volunteering policy debate has been taken to a large number of stakeholders during May & June 2011 including the EU Institution Open Days; EP hearings on VAT, Grassroots sports and Online gambling; European Evening of Sport, EU OC; European Sunday Alliance Expert Conference on the added value of synchronized free time; European Civil Meeting Budapest; Active European Citizenship Group; YFJ Stakeholder workshop towards a rights based approach to volunteering; European Foundations Centre; Greek Secretary General for youth; Intel; DG Enlargement Study Tour for civil society organisations in the Western Balkans, Turkey and Iceland; EESC Hearing on Volunteering value and infrastructure; Eurodiaconia legal aspects of Volunteering seminar; EYV 2011 NCB meeting & the 2nd EYV 2011 Thematic conference.

EYV 2011 Alliance Working Groups

The EYV 2011 Alliance Working Groups had a third meeting in May 2011 – read the report here. The working groups involve more than 100 experts, many of them volunteers themselves. If you have something to contribute to the volunteering policy debate please contact the EYV 2011 Alliance secretariat or the working group concerned using the dedicated e-mail provided in the report.

EYV 2011 Question of the month

How many hours do you volunteer per month? This question of the month invites you to give a rough estimation of your time dedicated to volunteering. Do not forget to register your hours on the counter and help us meet our symbolic target of 1 million of hours for 2011! The poll results from the previous questions of the month is now available, download pdf.

Red Cross says "thank you" to volunteers

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement publicly thank their 13 million active volunteers who do an outstanding job every day of the year saying that these volunteers are the power of humanity and make the world a better place. In the run-up to 8 May, the ICRC has posted a selection of photos to say "thank you" and highlight the work of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers round the world.

European Volunteer Measurement Project Training Workshop 

CEV is in collaboration with the project partners SPES – Centro di Servizio per il Volontariato del Lazio and Johns Hopkins University Centre for Civil Society Studies inviting all interested parties to attend a training workshop on European Volunteer Measurement Project which will be held on Saturday, July 16 2011, from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the Social Platform office, Square de Meeûs 18, B-1050 Brussels. The aim of the training workshop is to familiarize you with the new International Labour Organization Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work, and to equip you to help promote its adoption and use by statistical authorities in your country. Register by emailing to evmp[at]cev.be before July 10.

Volunteers exchange experiences about volunteering in the EU

On 23 and 24 May 2011, 300 representatives, from different parts of the volunteering sector in the EU, met in Brussels at the Hotel Crowne Plaza and at the EESC for the "2nd EU-level thematic conference for the European Year of Volunteering 2011". Government representatives and businesses were also present, to enrich the discussions with their perspectives. This second conference had the specific purpose of looking at the world of volunteering through the eyes of the individual volunteer and to gather experiences from the field of volunteering. More information and report available here. Photos available here.

EYV 2011 Tour in Vilnius

The EYV tour in Vilnius took place between 21-23 June. Find out more about participating in the EYV 2011 tour in your country. The EYV Tour Press releases are available in our Press Kit.  Check the EYV tour dates here & contact the National Coordinating Bodies in each Member State to participate in the EYV 2011 Launches. The EYV 2011 logo in 23 languages and all visual elements are available.

The pilot European Volunteers Corps is launched

The pilot phase of the European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid (EVHAC) was launched in Budapest on June 17th 2011. DG ECHO has chosen three of its main partner organisations in Humanitarian Aid to run the first pilot projects and select, train and deploy the first 90 European Humanitarian Volunteers. In the pilot phase, the volunteers will be trained to effectively assist communities in humanitarian risk, while fostering local capacities among aid-receiving communities. Later in 2011, the volunteers will start working in third countries. Read Press Release or watch video. Download the Call for EVHAC Volunteers by Save the Children UK (Deadline: 3 July). 

European Partnership for Volunteering – an opportunity for the Polish EU Presidency?

In June 2011, the Institute of Public Affairs (Instytut Spraw Publicznych published a policy brief entitled "European Partnership for Volunteering - an opportunity for the Polish EU-Council Presidency?". Recommendations on how to foster European volunteering during the Polish Presidency (1 July - 31 December 2011) are highlighted as well as the relevance of volunteering for nearly all EU policy areas. Read the publication.

New Gambling Law Threatens Volunteering

State lotteries contribute to more than 22 billion per year to the state budgets and the funding of sport, culture, social projects, research and other causes of general interest. For thousands of civil society organisations in the EU, lottery funding represents an important source of income. The European Lotteries, the association of the state lotteries in the EU, defend a gambling model based on the public utility model and defend the principle of solidarity when revenues generated from gambling must serve the public interest. The Green Paper on on-line gambling, adopted by the European Commission on 24 March 2011 launches an extensive consultation on challenges resulting from the development of on-line gambling. Organisations can answer the questionnaire made available by the European Commission and/or submit separate documents until 31 July 2011. 

Sustainable societies and volunteerism

Non-governmental organizations and civil society are invited to attend the United Nations DPI/NGO conference held from Sept 3-5 in Bonn, Germany. More than 1,000 members of civil society are expected to gather to discuss volunteerism and sustainability in high-level plenary and workshop sessions. The conference also offers NGOs a strategic opportunity to mark the twenty-year review of the groundbreaking UN Conference on Environment and Development. The event is organized by the government of Germany, the City of Bonn, the NGO/DPI Executive Committee and UN Volunteers. Young people are particularly encouraged to attend. Read more.

Corporate volunteering at Intel

Intel strives to be an asset to communities. Every year Intel employees spend thousands of hours mentoring young people, lending technical expertise, serving on taskforces, and participating in community service projects. They take on tasks such as explaining algebraic equations and providing examples of what an engineer does every day. In 2009, every third employee in Europe, the Middle East and Africa volunteered, and Intel provides a cash donation for every hour an Intel employee volunteers.

24 June is UK's national day of Employee volunteering

Give & Gain Day 2011 is the UK's national day of employee volunteering and took place this year on the 24th of June. Managed by Business in the Community, and sponsored by Lloyds Banking Group, Hewlett Packard and Eversheds LLP, Give & Gain Day mobilises employees to volunteer their expertise and time during work hours to support communities. 8,452 employee volunteers in the UK and a total of 24,160 worldwide made a difference in their local community. Read more.

Y.E.S. declaration on volunteering

During its General Assembly in May 2011 the Youth and European Social Work Forum (Y.E.S) issued a declaration on volunteering which consists of recommendations to European and national stakeholders. Download the declaration.

Volunteers in action in South East Europe

 EYV 2011 Alliance- Membership Profile

The Alliance of European Voluntary Service Organisations was founded in 1982. Each member organisation runs an annual programme of International Voluntary Projects in their own country and exchanges international volunteers with the aim to promote volunteering, participation, mobility and social inclusion. To ensure the quality of its projects the Alliance General Assembly has developed the "Quality Charter on Voluntary Projects" and the "Access for All" policy papers. Read more.

Mental Health Europe (MHE) is a European non-governmental organisation committed to promoting positive mental health, preventing mental health problems, improving mental health care and advocating for the human rights of (ex-)users of mental health services. MHE believes in dignity and respect, equal opportunities, social inclusion, democracy and participation. MHE recognizes the valuable work of volunteers in the mental health field, who are important actors in the reintegration process of people with mental health problems. (Ex-) users of mental health services often take up volunteer positions themselves, which helps them develop skills and competences and aids their inclusion in the community. Read More.

EYV 2011 "City Focus" - Tyne & Wear county, North East England

Cultural volunteering, an innovative employment support model at local level - Tyne & Wear

The Culture Track programme (North East Regional Museums Hub) was a volunteering programme which provided wide ranging creative placements at museums across Tyne and Wear including personalised support and training. Culture Track surpassed almost all its target engaging 69 unemployed people in volunteering and helped 16 volunteers to progress into employment. Feedback from volunteers has been overwhelmingly positive and the project has left a lasting legacy in the development of procedures for working with volunteers.

The Culture Track programme in Tyne & Wear was one of 9 pilot projects of the Regional Cultural Volunteering Programme – known as North East Volunteers (NEV) –created in 2008 and implemented until 2010 as an innovative employment support model. The North East has relatively high levels of unemployment and volunteering has been proven to be a valuable opportunity to develop skills in a supportive environment. The NEV programme has been wide reaching and has engaged 1,185 volunteers across the North East, consisted of 9 pilot projects and has helped 118 volunteers to move into paid work. Download NEV programme report here.

NEV was a pioneering opportunity to test the impact of cultural volunteering on individuals, the economy and the cultural sector. The cultural sector offers a unique opportunity to attract people into volunteering and thereby into employment support because cultural volunteering has a 'cool' factor that appeals to those who might never have considered volunteering before.

If you have some spare time and want to get involved in something fun and meaningful, check out volunteering opportunities where you live!

Announcements

Upcoming events:

July 8: ALDA Conference "Volunteering for Democracy: opportunities for Good Governance and Active Citizenship", Bydgoszcz, Poland.

July 12: 13:00, MEPs Sandrine Bélier and Marian Harkin (ALDE) invite you for a Manifesto launch for the establishment of a Statute for European Associations and an exhibition on volunteering, European Parliament, Brussels. Download info here.

July 16: 9:00 to 13:00, European Volunteer Measurement Project Training Workshop organised by CEV with project partners, Brussels, Belgium

Aug 31st-Sept 3: European University for Voluntary Service, University of Basel, Switzerland.

September 1-2: 09:00 -17:30, ECAS event "European Citizenship in Action" with master classes, conferences and panels on EU Citizenship, with a focus on European Funding, Citizens' Initiatives, Participatory Panels and the 2013 EU Year of the citizen, EESC, Brussels.

September 3-5: 64th Annual United Nations DPI/NGO conference "Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens" Bonn, Germany.

September 6-10: European Youth Forum (YFJ) 2nd Youth Convention on Volunteering, Brussels, Belgium.

September 13-14: From volunteering to leadership in sport Expert's conference, Ministry of Sport and Tourism of the Republic of Poland, Warsaw, Poland.

September 21: 13.30-15.00, "Enhancing the participation of older volunteers through the EYV 2011" meeting, European Parliament, co-organised by AGE and Jean Lambert MEP, Brussels, Belgium. Download info here.

September 22-23: EUCLID Annual Conference, Naples, Italy

September 27: EESC Public Hearing on Legal Framework for volunteering, Brussels, Belgium

September 29 – October 1: The Council of European Municipalities and Regions is co-organising the European Congress on Citizenship and Twinning together with the Association of Polish Cities and at the city of Rybnik, Rybnik, Poland.

October 10-13: Open Days 2011, CoR 9th European Week of Regions and Cities, Brussels, Belgium.

October 13-14: Council of Europe Forum for the Future of Democracy, Limassol, Cyprus, Download Application form, read more, Deadline: 8 July 2011.

October 17-19: Africa Conference on Volunteer Action for Development, Johannesburg. Registration begins on 14 July.

October 19-21: CEV Symposium - "Volunteering and Active Citizenship - two sides of the same coin?" Berlin, Germany

October 20-23: 20th annual  Volonteurope Conference, "Make a difference by volunteering", Edinburgh, UK. Register here

October 23-30: UNOY "PAVE your way! Peace and Volunteering in Europe", Budapest, Hungary. Deadline: 15 July 2011. Download Call for Participants. Apply here.

Awards:

5th Active Citizens of Europe (ACE) Awards nominations OPEN: send the completed nomination form to psadowski[at]csv.org.uk. Deadline: 19 August 2011.

The European Foundations' Initiative on Dementia (EFID) – Awards: Call for projects "Living well with Dementia in the Community". Up to 10 projects will be funded with up to €10.000. Deadline: 31 August 2011. Read more.

European commission:

EbS, the Audio Visual team at the EC, have made available the second volunteering stockshots featuring volunteers from the EYV 2011 Alliance to be used free of charge by anyone during 2011 and beyond. Watch the stockshots. 

EYV 2011 Calendar - is your event there?  On the official European Commission calendar of EYV 2011 get an overview of EYV 2011 events across Europe! Download the form here and send it to the EC at sn.volunteering@paueducation.com to include your events on the calendar.

There is still time to host a Relay Reporter ! The 27 EYV 2011 Volunteer Journalist Relay will visit each member state in turn, check the deadline for your country and apply here.  

Funding opportunities:

Euclid Network, Project Ahead and the UniCredit Foundation launch the European Social Innovation Competition for Naples. Bring positive change to a city and provide new solutions solving concrete challenges identified by organisers and local organisations in Naples. The six winners (one for each challenge) will receive €10.000 seed funding. Deadline: 10 August 2011. Apply here.

European edition of the „Discover e-volunteering" Competition. Do you know some interesting e-volunteering initiatives? Or maybe your NGO engages e-volunteers? Take part in the Discover e-volunteering Competition! The total amount of prizes in the Competition is 5 000 euro. Deadline: 31st July 2011. Apply here.

Share and match your needs on the Online Market place here. __ _---_______________________---__---------------__

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 Commit ! say thank you to a volunteer by registering their hours here as part of the EYV 2011 Volunteer Commitments Total. 

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