EYV FLOW - Issue 16, December 2011

Welcome to the final EYV Flow of 2011. The next EYV Flow will be in February 2012. If you have any suggestion for that issue 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 at the 3rd thematic conference in Athens

The 3rd EYV 2011 Thematic Conference in Athens looked at volunteering from the perspective of volunteer-involving organisations and the EYV 2011 Alliance was well represented with almost half the participants coming from the network. EYV 2011 Alliance members hosted open space sessions, world café tables and EYV 2011 Alliance Project Manager Gabriella Civico made a closing speech. Read more.

EYV 2011 Alliance: participate online!

See the question of the month. Check the latest offers in the Online Marketplace. Register your volunteering hours. Share your ideas and news through facebook and twitter. Exchange your expertise in the resources library. Send your feedback.

JOIN exhibition "Volunteer without borders"

With an exhibition in the European Parliament in Brussels, the Johanniter organisations concluded their contributions to the European Year of Volunteering 2011. The exhibition was organised by Johanniter International (JOIN), the European network of St John/Johanniter charities, and was opened on 8 November 2011. Read Johanniter press release.

Caritas Festival of Solidarity Engagement

The Caritas 'Festival de l'Engagement Solidaire' will take place between 2-5 December 2011 across Europe and in the European Parliament and Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Thousands of participants from around 30 countries are expected for this event including volunteers and people experiencing poverty and/or exclusion. The Festival involves all institutional levels (local, regional, national and European) and will put social volunteering and all types of solidarity engagement which fight exclusion and poverty in the spotlight. Read the flyer.

Council conclusions on the role of voluntary activities in sport

The council conclusions on 'the role of voluntary activities in sport in promoting active citizenship' adopted on 29 November 2011 underlines the fact that voluntary activities in sport are among the most attractive forms of engagement in Europe and belongs to the social heritage of sport. Voluntary activities in sport contribute to active citizenship, to the growth and strengthening of social capital, to the mobility of citizens through building competences as well as developing the European identity and promoting EU values. The conclusions also stress that voluntary activities need to be clearly distinguished from paid employment and cannot replace the overall responsibility of the state. The council of the European Union encourages EU Member states, the European Commission and sport stakeholders to create favourable conditions and ensure the development of voluntary activities in sport. Read more.

EYV 2011 Tour in London, Prague, Bratislava and Sofia

In October 2011, the EYV tour took place in London, Prague, Bratislava and Sofia. Find out more about 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. The EYV 2011 logo in 23 languages and all visual elements are available.

EESC Public Hearing on Employee volunteering

This hearing in November 2011 was dedicated to Employee volunteering and included contributions from Gabriella Civico on behalf of the EYV 2011 Alliance, John Macdonald Head of the EYV 2011 Taskforce, Marian Harkin MEP, Chair of the EP Interest Group on Volunteering and David Barnes Solidarité coordinator. The conclusions of the hearing will feed directly into the final report summing up the activities during the European Year of Volunteering 2011 and will help put forward proposals to European decision-makers.

Special events for International Volunteer Day this year

International Volunteer Day on 5 December 2011 sees a number of special events to mark the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10). On 5 and 6 December, civil society organisations and other volunteer-involving partners will convene in New York to network, share good practices, and discuss follow up opportunities for the volunteering agenda beyond 2011. On 5 December 2011, at the United Nations General Assembly, Member States will discuss volunteering under the item 'Social development'. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme will launch the first State of the World's Volunteerism Report and hold a cocktail reception to open a multimedia exhibition on 'Volunteers of the World' at the UN visitors lobby. Read more.

"Positive Impact" from EYV 2011 in Portugal

Portugal's leading civil society magazine "Impulso Positivo" dedicated their 5th edition to EYV 2011. Together with EYV 2011 Portuguese NCB Elza Chambel and Ambassador Fernanda Freitas, EYV 2011 Alliance Project Manager Gabriella Civico gives an insight into the EYV 2011 achievements and lessons learned. Read more.

Discover e-volunteering competition winners

The official announcement of the winners of the Discover e-volunteering' Competition will take place on the 1st December 2011 during the Final Gala in Warsaw. Read more about the winners here.

 EYV 2011 Alliance- Membership Profile

 International Scout and Guide Fellowship (ISGF) is an organisation for adults established in 1953. Based on the Scout/Guide ideals its essential purpose is to assist its members to maintain the values learned in the youth movements, to give service within their communities, to encourage continuous personal development and to support Scouting and Guiding on a world, national and local level. ISGF is open to former members of WOSM and WAGGGS organisations, and to adults who did not get the opportunity when young to be Scouts and Guides. The members of ISGF are the NSGFs (National Scout and Guide Fellowships), currently in 63 countries. Read more.

The International Sport and Culture Association (ISCA) is an organisation bringing together sport, culture and youth organisations from across the globe. ISCA believes that international activities such as festivals, exchanges and sports tournaments are an unrivalled means of creating international understanding, and that everyone should be given the chance to participate. ISCAs members are largely based on voluntary work, and voluntarism is a key concept and theme in ISCA's projects and activities as well as in ISCA's wider advocacy work. In accordance with the EYV 2011 priorities and under the 2010 Preparatory action in the field of sport, ISCA is managing the transnational EuroVolNet project that fosters the exchange of best practices regarding legal, fiscal, educative and political aspects of voluntary activity in sport, faced notably by actors involved in the management and running of national level sport associations consisting of local sport structures. Read more.

EYV 2011 "City Focus" - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Volunteering : "Good for you, Good for the city"

As part of the European Year of Volunteering 2011, Amsterdam launched the Voluntary Amsterdam campaign (Vrijwillig Amsterdam). The City works together with volunteer organisations to shine a well-earned spotlight on volunteers and to encourage Amsterdammers to get involved in volunteering.

The various volunteering opportunities available are presented under the slogan "Volunteering: good for you, good for the city" ("Vrijwilligerswerk, goed voor jou, goed voor de stad"). One of the primary objectives of the Voluntary Amsterdam campaign is to show Amsterdammers that volunteering can be multidimensional, interesting and enjoyable.

The city provides information on volunteering opportunities whether volunteer's interest lies in sports, at cultural events, working with nature and animals, working together with young people, people with disabilities or helping newcomers. The VCA or Vrijwilligerscentrale Amsterdam is the main hub for volunteering in the city. The service is currently offered at four locations: in the Centre, Noord, Zuidoost and Nieuw-West Districts of Amsterdam. Volunteers can access over a 1000 different volunteering opportunities via the online vrijwilligersbank (vacancy bank). Read more. 

Announcements

Upcoming events:

December 3: 9:00-17:00, Plate-forme francophone du Volontariat  "700 000 volunteers and you and me and us...." Event, Namur, Belgium.

December 8-9: "EYV is ending, volunteering goes on!" conference, Pilsen, Czech Republic

December 9: Social Platform Annual conference "We CARE, how can EU Care?". The International Auditorium, Brussels. Read more.

December 16: Volunteer Development Scotland "Recognition and Accreditation of Learning through Volunteering conference".

February 14-17, 2012: SEVEN NETWORK: A Conference on Senior Volunteering. IMP.ACT. IMProving ACTion of Senior Volunteers in Europe, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Download info or Program.

March 6, 2012: SOLIDAR Silver Rose Awards 2012. Read more.

European Commission:

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

Research and reports

Communication from the European Commission: A renewed EU strategy 2011-14 for Corporate Social Responsibility, Brussels, 25 October 2011, COM(2011) 681 final. Read more.

The role of voluntary activities in social policy - Council Conclusions - 3114th Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council meeting in Luxembourg, 3 October 2011. Read more.

 --

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

----  -------------------------- ------------- ----  --------------  ----------- ------ --  ------------- --------------- --

The EYV 2011 Alliance is on facebook, share the latest news  and stay up-to-date on EYV2011 !

Follow us on Twitter: #EYV2011Alliance