The role, place and value given to volunteering in education and training. General report of  EUCIS-LLL Annual Conference - Krakow - 9 May 2011, published by the European Civil Society Platform on Lifelong Learning (EUCIS-LLL), September 2011.

Summary:

The EUCIS-LLL conference "The role, place and value given to volunteering in education and training" was held at the International Culture Centre of Krakow (Poland) on "Europe Day", 9 May 2011. Volunteers play an essential role in lifelong learning. Being active as a volunteer contributes towards developing knowledge, skills and competences that one could not have gained in traditional systems. Today theses competences are seldom recognised within education and training systems whereas research shows that volunteering contributes to Europe's democratic life and social model but also to volunteers' civic, social and economic participation. It is thus important to look at ways of encouraging, supporting and recognising volunteering and volunteers within education and training. For instance how can the implementation of European frameworks (EQF, Europass, validation guidelines, etc.) be used to encourage and support volunteers of all ages? What can we learn from existing practices around Europe?

The Region Friuli Venezia Giulia, Centro Servizi Volontariato Friuli Venezia Giulia and CSVnet, Italian Federation of Volunteer Support Centres, organise the International Conference "Italy – Central and South Eastern Europe Volunteering and institutions in comparison - International Conference for the European Year of Volunteering 2011".
At the border between Italy and Slovenia, in Gorizia, from the 7th to the 9th October, the Conference opens up spaces for in-depth analysis and comparison between European, national and local institutions and voluntary organisations on issues fundamental for social cohesion and for the European strategy 2020.
As follow up of the first international conference "Dialogues of Europe: Italy – Balkans" in 2008,the second edition continues and analyses in depth issues such as diversity and social inclusion, young people and participation and, starting from these experiences, draws routes for development of shared planning and policies.
The event represents, moreover, an important occasion to involve in scheduled initiatives the volunteering systems of some countries not yet members of the European Union.
There are no charges for participation, but the registration is mandatory. For more information and for registration contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

For more information, visit the website of the conference:
http://www.destinazioneeuropa.eu/calendario/dettaglio.asp?idevento=108&idambito=6http://dersuuzala/de2011aev/calendario/dettaglio.asp?idevento=15&idambito=2#testo
(English versions of programme and registration form at the bottom of the page)

Engaging practice. Engaging young citizens from disadvantaged communities, a good practice guide. CSV, 2011

Summary:

nvolving young people in service design and provision has changed from being something that government organisations strived to do, in order to meet set targets, to now being the law. That's why it's more important now than ever before to make sure that young people are engaged with every aspect of their lives, in shaping their communities through joint decision making or volunteering; making a vital contribution to their neighbourhoods. Already, it's those aged between 16 and 24 who have the highest take up rate of volunteering opportunities (with 50% of 16-19 year olds reported to volunteer at least once a month).

That's something that doesn't often get the recognition it deserves among the rush to involve and engage young people; it's something we should celebrate and build on, but that can only be done if young people are engaged effectively. This is what Engaging Practice strives to facilitate.

Young Disabled Leaders. Engaging The Power House. Funded by The Young Foundation, Radar/CSV 2011

The Young Disabled Leaders (YDL) project took place over a one-year period, covering the three areas of London, Birmingham and the Leeds / Humberside region. In each of these areas, three training days were held to focus on different aspects of 'Leadership'.

Radar and CSV have spent the last year working with its Young Disabled Leaders to gather their thoughts and experiences of volunteering, civic action and trying to 'get involved'. In addition to this, we have compiled information already in the public domain to form this section of our report. It aims to give organisations like yours, advice and ideas on how to better engage with young disabled people, to capitalise on their skills, talents and creativity, as demonstrated throughout this YDL project.

The International Social Innovation Competition for Naples is open.

 

Working in partnership with local organisations and Unicredit Foundation we have identified 6 challenges in Naples such a villa confiscated to Camorra - the criminal group - to be turned into a profitable business for the community, and called social innovators to submit their solutions.

All innovators are eligible including public and private, profit and not for profit institutions, organisations and enterprises from across the world. This is an opportunity for everybody if interested in taking a challenge for the good of society testing his/her skills and creativity on a difficult ground as Naples.

An international jury will evaluate the applications and proclaim 6 winners at the international conference taking place in Naples on 21 - 23 September.

The winners will receive 10'000 € each one to transform the idea into a project working in partnership with local partners. The organisers will fundraise for the entire budget to implement every project they deem effective and sustainable.

To apply please here

Please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for any enquiries.

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

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

Marzena Kacprowicz

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.

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.

SEEYN organized photo competition and exhibition „Vounteers in action" in the frame of regional project "SEE youth for European Year of Volunteering 2011".

 

The competition was opened from 1st of April till 15th of May 2011. Around 30 photographers from different European countries applied with more than 100 photos. The best 3 photos won a prize while 2 more got praise. Together with 15 more competition photos and 1 cover photo they became part of exhibition „Volunteers in action". The project is supported by European Union and Council of Europe.

 

The exhibition will be opened on 22nd of June 2011 in galery Blackbox in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will be presented in Valjevo (Serbia), Tirana (Albania), Bitola (Macedonia, Crnomelj (Slovenia) and other places in South East Europe region during 2011.

Awarded:

1. Andrija Vrdoljak, 1978, Livno - Fire extinguishing

2. Nemanja Šiljegović, 1985, Banja Luka - Volunteers in action

3. Adeline Charnet, France/Valjevo - Crayons

Acknowledgement:

Mahir Vranac,1985, Visoko/Višegrad – Aid distribution

Arnej Misirlić, 1993, Maribor/Svrake- Vogošća, BiH – Trash bags

 

You can see all exhibition photos on this link:

http://seeyn.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=132:exhibition-volunteers-in-action&catid=49:dynamic

 

Organizations from South East Europe have possibility to host exhibition in their places. SEEYN can send 21 printed photos prepared for exhibition. If you are interested contact us on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . 

 

 

The top twenty photos, and also the winning photos of the photo competition Volunteers in action

have been chosen due to the fact that they managed to respond to the given topic from different

perspectives and in the same time showed various ways of perceiving volunteering in general.

All chosen photos had not only managed to show the voluntary action and document the activities such

as helping the children, cleaning green areas from waste, raising ecological consciousness or collecting

aid for the part of our planet that was in trouble, but they also evoked the specific atmosphere of volunteering,

collectivity and unity about a noble idea, and also showed great skills of the authors in using

technical abilities of the chosen media. Smile, caught environment, details from the behind or spontaneous

arm movement became the echoes of the original idea of voluntarism visible in these photos.

The winning photos have in common the subtle detachment from the concrete topic: Andrija Vrdoljak

managed to describe the extinguishing of fire in that way to remind us more of the oil on canvas

than of documented photography, Adeline Charnet was devoted to the details by which we

can only anticipate which activity and help could be presented, while Nemanja Šiljegović paid attention

to the serenity and content which come after work done for the benefit of the community.

Such illustrations, slightly removed from the direct representation of the action, speak much more in the

direction of what we should know about volunteers and volunteer acts: their aim is fulfilled only with good

feelings of all participants, enjoying the acting and smiles on the faces of both the helpers and those in trouble.

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

 

Fostering the dialogue between citizens, civil society organisations, National and European Institutions. An introduction to the European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship. A publication Europe for Citizens Point Italy -ECP. June 2011.