Are you running a project in which people are helping others via the Internet? The 'Discover e-volunteering' Competition is just for you! Hurry up – there are 6 days left to join the Competition, win prizes and show Europeans how much good they can do in the Web!

 

E-volunteering is volunteering conducted via the Internet. Free Web counseling, forming assistance and self-help groups, promoting partnership, searching for information, or on-line language courses are among many examples of e-volunteering. Through this Competition we hope to show their diversity and to encourage all Europeans to undertake social activity in the Internet!

All organisations from the European Union cooperating with volunteers through the Internet may take part in the Competition. The application form is available on the website: http://www.e-volunteering.eu/competition/ . The deadline for submitting the applications is July 31, 2011.

The Competition will consist of the following stages:

• May, 25 – July, 31, 2011 - Call for appliactions
• August, 22 – September, 5, 2011 – The Competition Selection Committee selects 9-12 best projects
• September, 12 – October, 12, 2011 – On-line voting
• November 2011 – Final Gala in Warsaw

Attractive financial awards for the Competition winners are funded by the Polish Fundacja Orange (1st prize) , Fondation Orange from France (2nd Prize) and Intel Technology Poland Ltd (3rd prize). The total sum of prizes in the Competition is 6 000 euro.

'Discover e-volunteering' is the only competition, both in Poland and in Europe, which aims at honouring and promoting the most interesting projects concerning the co-operation of non-governmental organizations with the e-voluntaries seeking to help others via the Internet.
It has been also chosen by the European Commission as one of the flagship projects of the European Year of Volunteering 2011.

Detailed information on the Competition, the Regulations, and promotional materials are available on the website: http://www.e-volunteering.eu/competition/

For more information please contact:

Patrycja Rokicka

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Marzena Kacprowicz

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The European edition of 'Discover e-volunteering' is organized by the Good Network Foundation and Fundacja Orange, in cooperation with Competition Partners. The European edition of 'Discover e-volunteering' competition is pursued under the project 'Values ​​and activities of volunteering and e-volunteering' co-financed by the European Union. The European Union is not responsible for any content generated by the project.

Does your organization co-operate with volunteers seeking to help others via the Internet? Don't wait till the summertime and join 'Discover E-volunteering' Competition now! Attractive prizes are awaiting for the authors of the best e-volunteering projects.

All organisations from the European Union cooperating with volunteers through the Internet may take part in the Competition. The application form is available on the website: http://www.e-volunteering.eu/competition/ . The deadline for submitting the applications is July 31, 2011.

 

The Competition will consist of the following stages:

• May, 25 – July, 31,  2011 - Call for appliactions
• August, 22 – September, 5, 2011 – The Competition Selection Committee selects 9-12 best projects.
• September, 12 – October, 12, 2011 – On-line voting.
• November 2011 – Final Gala in Warsaw.

Detailed information on the Competition, the Regulations, and promotional materials are available on the website: http://www.e-volunteering.eu/competition/

For more information please contact:

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The European edition of 'Discover e-volunteering' is organized by the Good Network Foundation and Fundacja Orange, in cooperation with Competition Partners. The European edition of 'Discover e-volunteering' competition is pursued under the project 'Values and activities of volunteering and e-volunteering' co-financed by the European Union. The European Union is not responsible for any content generated by the project.

Brussels, 7 May 2011 // The European Youth Forum (YFJ) Council of Members took place in Antwerp, Belgium on 6-7 May. Around 150 young delegates from youth organisations from all over Europe gathered in Antwerp to discuss issues of concern for young people in Europe, such as employment, volunteering, youth participation.

On the occasion of the European Youth Year of Volunteering 2011, a major part of the European Youth Forum bi-annual Council of Members (COMEM) was dedicated to young volunteers. The Youth Forum is convinced that volunteering and participation in youth organisations are at the heart of democracy, as dynamic forces for social inclusion and active citizenship. Volunteering is a pillar of the work of the European Youth Forum and its member organisations, with all of its 98 youth organisations basing their work on the contributions of their young volunteers.

In order to foster a culture of participation and active citizenship in Europe and the world, volunteers need to be given the access as well as the encouragement to exercise volunteering activities, but first and foremost – volunteers need the rights that fit their duties. In this regard, the European Youth Forum has already since 2006 identified the need for a common European legal framework or charter, defining the basic rights and responsibilities of volunteers.

In the next weeks, the European Youth Forum will launch a process of extensive consultation among its member organisations and open dialogue with other key stakeholders (institutions and other civil society partners) on a draft for a Charter on the Rights of Volunteers leading to a high level debate on such a document during the II Youth Convention on Volunteering taking place in Brussels on 7-11 September.

On Friday 6 May, an open debate on the theme of "The Rights of Young Volunteers" was hosted by Antwerp as the European Youth Capital 2011, and saw the participation of local youth organisations and volunteers. During the debate Leen Verbist, Antwerp Alderwoman for Youth, Gabriella Civico, Coordinator of the 2011 European Year of Volunteering Alliance and Kimberly Ochs, researcher on volunteering shared their views on the major challenges for young volunteers today.

"In launching the process of consultation on the Charter on the Rights of Volunteers, we take the opportunity, during one of the most important annual meetings of the European Youth Forum to celebrate the work of millions of young people volunteering in Europe and their contribution to shape a better European society for all," said Peter Matjašič, President of the European Youth Forum.

During the intense days of work, the young delegates discussed, shared experiences or adopted common positions also on youth entrepreneurship, guidelines for an environmentally sustainable European Youth Forum, quality assurance in non-formal education, and the future of the EU Structured Dialogue.

The fourth volume of the Family Platform Online Journal focuses on volunteering and families.

PROGRESS - Community Programme for Employment and Social Solidarity supports the effective implementation of the principle of gender equality, promotes gender mainstreaming in all Community policies, supports the implementation of the open method of coordination (OMC) in the field of social protection and inclusion, supports the effective implementation of the principle of non-discrimination and promotes its mainstreaming in all Community policies.

The Programme is divided into 5 sections:

• Employment
• Social protection and inclusion
• Working conditions
• Antidiscrimination and diversity
• Gender equality

An example of what PROGRESS can fund of particular interest for volunteer organisations is the funding of EU networks of NGOs fighting social exclusion and discrimination on grounds of racial origin, age and disability or promoting gender equality

Programme website: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/progress/index_en.html
Next deadlines: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/emplweb/tenders/index_en.cfm