FORUM on International Volunteering

“On behalf of fellow members of the FORUM Executive Board, I would like to congratulate Brian Rockliffe of VSO on being awarded an OBE in the UK New Year Honours List. The award was given for “services to International Development” and  is indeed well-deserved recognition of his outstanding contribution to the international volunteer sector over many years. FORUM and its Members have benefited greatly over the years from Brian’s active involvement in our activities and his current role on the Executive Board.” ...more

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme today announced the winners of the “Online Volunteering Award 2009”, honouring the ‘outstanding’ contributions of volunteers who work entirely over the internet to contribute to peace and development by helping non-profit development organizations. ...more

Volunteering for our planet

Out climate is changing and will affect us all. Temperatures are rising and this may bring natural disasters such as storms, flooding, droughts and wildfires. It will hit the most vulnerable the hardest. ...more

The European Commission has decided to propose that 2011 be designated the “European Year of Volunteering”. The Council is expected to endorse this decision, after the European Parliament has been consulted, by the beginning of next year.

In the European Union, millions of citizens are volunteering. People of all ages make a positive contribution to their community by investing some of their free time in civil society organisations, in youth clubs, in hospitals, in schools, in sport clubs, etc. For the Commission, volunteering is an active expression of civic participation and strengthens common European values such as solidarity and social cohesion. Volunteering also provides important learning opportunities, because involvement in voluntary activities can provide people with new skills and competences and can even improve their employability. This is particularly important in this time of economic crisis. Volunteering plays an important role in sectors as varied and diverse as education, youth, culture, sport, environment, health, social care, consumer protection, humanitarian aid, development policy, research, equal opportunities and external relations. ...more

On March 31, 2009 the U.S. House of Representatives approved the version of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act passed by the Senate on March 26, 2009.

The bipartisan House vote of 275 to 149 followed the Senate’s overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 79 to 19. Information on how legislators voted can be found here for the House and here for the Senate. In a statement President Obama said he looks forward to signing the bill into law when he returns from his overseas trip. Congress moved rapidly after Barack and Michelle Obama both expressed their support for the legislation and desire to see it passed. ...more

In both his Skillshare role and as President of FORUM, Cliff Allum attended the International Society for Third-Sector Research (ISTR) conference on “The Third Sector and Sustainable Social Change: New Frontiers for Research” in Barcelona July 9th -12th. This was a major internationally focused conference, bringing together academic researchers and practitioners on all aspects of third sector activity. ...more

It is leading up to the ten year anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV). The IYV had a profound impact on volunteerism around the world. The recent UNV Secretary’s report highlighted that marking the anniversary would offer considerable potential for achieving enhanced levels of awareness of and commitment to volunteerism on the part of Governments and other stakeholders. Many ideas on possible actions have emerged from extensive consultations with Governments, civil society and the United Nations system at global, regional and local levels. ...more

Australian Volunteers International (AVI) CEO, Dimity Fifer, announced in August that following a recent review, it was decided that AVI will look at new ways of working with young people on youth development initiatives. ...more

Mark stated: “There are few jobs in international development that can match this one, and after 30 years in this field, and 20 years in 3 stints with VSO, including the last 9 as Chief Executive, I’m both excited and daunted by making a big change.  I do feel particularly excited at the prospect of learning about a whole new set of domestic social issues, and leading a very different, equally complex and even larger organisation in the very challenging environment which is the UK social sector today .” ...more

Cliff Allum, President of FORUM attended the ACUNS conference in Bonn on 5-7 June at the invitation of UNV. The ACUNS conference is a major global conference which brings together people working on research related to the UN’s activities. ...more