ENGSO Adopts a Position Paper on Volunteering

On 9 July, the Executive Committee of ENGSO adopted a position paper on volunteering. In the statement, ENGSO underlines that the European Union should develop European cooperation to promote volunteering through recommendations, relevant EU programmes and enabling visa practices. ENGSO also supports the development and recognition of the skills and competences of volunteers. According to ENGSO, the EU should also aim at decreasing administrative burdens of volunteers and voluntary sports organisations, minimising the unintended harmful consequences that European legislation can have on volunteering, and ensuring the sustainable financing of non-profit voluntary sports organisations.

More information and the position paper available on ENGSO Website.

EUCIS-LLL key messages on the European Year 2011 on Volunteering

The European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL) brings together 25 European networks working in education and training. Together, they cover all sectors of education and training including networks for secondary and higher education, vocational education and training, adult education and popular education. Together they represent millions of students, school heads, parents, human resources professionals, teachers and trainers, reaching out to hundreds of millions learners all over Europe and beyond.

Volunteering plays an indispensable and capital role in lifelong learning. EUCIS-LLL key messages on the European Year 2011 are the result of the discussions that took place during the EUCIS-LLL annual conference on "The role, place and value given to volunteering in education and training" (9 May 2011, Krakow) and EUCIS-LLL working group on the social dimension of education and training.

Paper on the economic value of volunteering and contribution-in-kind. Roundtable discussion on European financial regulation review and civil society. Contributions from EUCLID & Volonteurope, Authors: Filippo Addarii, Luisa De Amicis, Tamara Flanagan, January 2011

Volunteering England Good Practice Bank (UK): http://www.volunteering.org.uk/resources/goodpracticebank

 The Good Practice Bank includes resources on:

• Volunteer policies and agreements
• Recruitment
• Creating volunteer roles
• Expenses and state benefits
• Induction and training
• Support and supervision
• Reward, recognition and retention
• Health and safety and insurance
• Dealing with problems, complaints and disputes
• Protection and safeguarding
• Equality and diversity
• Legal Issues and volunteering
• Resources for volunteer managers and co-ordinators

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.

Sarajevo Seminar is the biggest event in the SEE region that promotes and celebrates European Year of Volunteering in 2011 and 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteering in this part of Europe. It is an opportunity that will allow for the productive interaction between enterprises, public institutions and civil society organizations coming from the South East Europe countries, the European Union, the United States as well as from international and intergovernmental organizations.

 

The ceremonial opening of the seminar is scheduled for the 21st of June 2011 at 10.00AM. The seminar participants will be addressed by the representatives of the Council of Europe, OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Embassy of Poland in Sarajevo, a country which takes over the presidency of the European Union and the organization committee of the seminar.

The importance of this topic can be reflected in the decision of European Union to declare 2011 as the European year of volunteering. Beside European Union, the Council of Europe and UN also acknowledge and recognize volunteers as one of the main resources for combating poverty, social exclusion and promotion of solidarity. For that reason we would like to use this positive tide and give incentives to regional governments, organizations and companies to contribute to better environment for the development of volunteering also in the SEE region and thus mutually invest in the future of our communities.

During four working days, seminar participants will exchange information and experience about the following topics:

- aims of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 and initiatives for celebrating this year in Europe and region of South East Europe,
- volunteering concepts and practices in the region,
- legal framework and volunteering policies on European and regional levels,
- economic value of volunteering, coorporate social responsibility and coorporative volunteering.

The participants of the seminar will also be the speakers from European Volunteer Centre, International Association for Volunteer Effort, Alliance for European Volunteer Service, European Commission Programme Youth in Action as well as the representatives of the organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, France, Italy, Hungary and USA.

This event is supported by Council of Europe - European Youth Foundation, OSCE Mission to BiH, European Commission - Youth in Action Programme, Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organization in BiH (TACSO BiH) and Civil Society Promotion Centre (CSPC).

Event program can be found at:

http://seeyn.org/images/stories/2011/see%20youth%20for%20the%20european%20year%20of%20volunteering%202011.pdf

 

Report on Round Table on legal aspects of volunteering, Eurodiaconia, May 2011.

We invite all organizations from EU to get involved in the 'Discover e-volunteering' Competition as our Partners.

With your help we will be able to reach more NGOs who could participate in the Competition, as well as create more diverse and valuable base of good practices, which will allow more and more NGOs to benefit from the possibilities of combining both the potential of Internet and volunteering!

Your role as a Partner would be to support us in promotion and organization of the Competition at your national or regional level. We will supply all informational and promotional materials (in English), so that you can insert them on your Webpage, send to media and other organizations that cooperate with volunteers via the Internet and might be interested in joining the Competition.

We will insert logos and information about all Partners on the Competition website, as well as all informational and promotional materials, etc.

To become a Partner of the Competition you should read the Guidelines of cooperation between partners involved into organization of the European edition of the „Discover e-volunteering" competition (download) , and send us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) till 615h June 2011 a  letter or e-mail declaring your will to cooperate with us and accepting these guidelines.

 

more information: http://www.e-volunteering.eu/competition/partnership/

promotional materials: http://www.e-volunteering.eu/competition/materials/