International Volunteer Year 2026
ivy2026
A Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering
Shaping the Future of Volunteering
Following one of the largest global consultations ever undertaken in the volunteering sector, the Global Volunteering Forum, IAVE, IFRC, UNICEF Generation Unlimited, and the Volunteer Groups Alliance have co-created the Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering.
This shared global agenda outlines how volunteering can be better recognised, supported, and safeguarded worldwide as we move into the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development 2026.
Alongside it, the Insights Paper brings together the voices of nearly 14,000 volunteers and stakeholders across 164 countries, providing the evidence and analysis that underpin the Call and highlighting the opportunities and challenges shaping the future of volunteering.
The Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering
A shared agenda for change to create an enabling environment that recognises, supports, and protects volunteers.
Insights Paper
Take a deep dive into the views that shaped the Call to Action, based on thousands of volunteer voices.
Background
In December 2023, the UN General Assembly declared 2026 the International Year for Volunteers for Sustainable Development (IVY 2026) to highlight the role of volunteers in advancing sustainability. A scoping group including Forum, IAVE, IFRC, and UNICEF Generation Unlimited, was formed in early 2024 to drive global engagement. The group identified IVY 2026 as an opportunity to emphasize the power of volunteering, encourage greater investment in volunteering, and secure commitments from governments and others to support volunteering and an enabling environment in which volunteering will flourish. A key message for IVY 2026 is that volunteers can significantly contribute to sustainable development, but only if provided with an enabling environment. As a result, the scoping group has crystallized around a Call to Action that engages all actors in the volunteering ecosystem to help create and maintain this environment. The group has since evolved into the Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering Steering Committee, which includes other key global stakeholders.
Developing a Call to Action
Our goal was to hear from volunteers, volunteer-involving organizations, governments, corporations, philanthropic foundations, and others on what changes were needed to bring about a transformative shift in the impact of volunteering on sustainable development. These insights were then captured in a focused, action-oriented Call to Action, which governments, VIOs, corporations, and others were asked to endorse and implement.
As a first step, we commissioned a Challenge Paper to surface and explore the topics addressed in the Call to Action.
From Dialogue to Action
The global consultation phase is now complete. Over the past months, people and organisations around the world came together to shape the future of volunteering. We are proud to share that more than 10,000 people from 163 countries responded to the survey, and over 100 dialogues were hosted across diverse contexts.
These conversations and responses have provided a rich and inspiring picture of how volunteering is contributing to tackling today’s challenges — and how it can play an even stronger role in the future.
How to Get Involved
Throughout the International Year, we will continue to roll out the Call to Action and build momentum with partners across the global volunteering community and beyond.
Help us spread the word: share the Call to Action with your colleagues, volunteers, partners, and policymakers, and start using it as a practical tool in your own advocacy, planning, and discussions. And think about concrete steps from the Call to Action that your organisation, company, or government will take. We will be rolling out the Call to Action throughout the International Year and building momentum with the whole volunteering community.
If you want to stay involved and learn more as the work progresses, please fill out this short form and we will keep you updated.
This project was funded with support from Comhlámh, the Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (Norec) and Volies
