The future of volunteering: concepts, trends, visions
 | 4th – 6th May 2011 Tallinn (Estonia) Venue: Sokos Hotel Viru (Viru väljak 4) |  |
T
he topic of voluntary action has gained momentum in Europe over the past years. The European Year of Volunteering 2011 is the latest peek in the growing public awareness that our societies are better of with active citizens. The coming months will see manifold projects, activities and awareness raising campaigns to further promote, facilitate and develop voluntary action all over the continent and beyond. This seems like a perfect moment to hold our breath and to ask ourselves: Quo vadis volunteering? Where are we and where should the journey go? What are the current trends in our sector and what is our vision for the future?
Many new features and new developments characterise the voluntary sector with the new information technologies playing an ever rising role in our daily lives; an increasing commercialisation of international voluntary service placements; the appearance of business players in the non-profit world of volunteering; with changing patterns of engagement by volunteers; and with our societies facing an economic and financial crises that may lead to unprecedented transformations to our societies and to the way the state perceives the unpaid contribution of citizens to economy and society. These and other developments have led our sector to ask questions such as: Where are the boundaries of volunteering? What are its inviolable core concepts and principles that we need to defend? What are opportunities and threats of further unleashing the potential of voluntary action to make our societies the places we want to live in? How do we shape tomorrow’s volunteering and how do we empower volunteers to shape tomorrow’s society?
Our conference will, thus, strive to achieve the following objectives:
he topic of voluntary action has gained momentum in Europe over the past years. The European Year of Volunteering 2011 is the latest peek in the growing public awareness that our societies are better of with active citizens. The coming months will see manifold projects, activities and awareness raising campaigns to further promote, facilitate and develop voluntary action all over the continent and beyond. This seems like a perfect moment to hold our breath and to ask ourselves: Quo vadis volunteering? Where are we and where should the journey go? What are the current trends in our sector and what is our vision for the future? Many new features and new developments characterise the voluntary sector with the new information technologies playing an ever rising role in our daily lives; an increasing commercialisation of international voluntary service placements; the appearance of business players in the non-profit world of volunteering; with changing patterns of engagement by volunteers; and with our societies facing an economic and financial crises that may lead to unprecedented transformations to our societies and to the way the state perceives the unpaid contribution of citizens to economy and society. These and other developments have led our sector to ask questions such as: Where are the boundaries of volunteering? What are its inviolable core concepts and principles that we need to defend? What are opportunities and threats of further unleashing the potential of voluntary action to make our societies the places we want to live in? How do we shape tomorrow’s volunteering and how do we empower volunteers to shape tomorrow’s society?
Our conference will, thus, strive to achieve the following objectives:
- To provide an overview of the current trends in volunteering;
- To facilitate a space for debate on controversies that have developed over time;
- To identify the core concepts and inviolable values of volunteering we adhere to and that we want to safeguard;
- To develop a vision for the decades to come of how volunteering will continue to serve as a central cornerstone in all European countries.
This conference will be organised in the framework of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 Tour Relay in Estonia (3-7 May), the European Culture Capital 2011 Tallinn celebrations, and the Let’s Do It Estonia’ campaign on May 7.
Final Programme
Some pictures ....Accomododation options in Tallinn
Practical and Tourist Information
Workshop presentations
- Dace Maulina, Ilze Grintale, Brīvprātīgais.lv (Latvia), The role of a virtual database in the promotion and development of voluntary work
- Else Boss & Sandra Kamerbeek, Movisie (Netherlands), Perspective on changes in civil society and consequences for volunteering and support organisations
- Roumjana Modeva, NM Women and Mothers against Violence (Bulgaria), Methods for the enlargement of the volunteers’ network among students and minority ethnic groups
- Franco Vannini, Istituto Italiano della Donazione (Italy), Towards a Fundraising Certifi cate for associations
- Frank Schulze, Federal Agency for Technical Relief – THW (Germany), E-learning training courses on quality volunteer management
- Anneli Ohvril, Let’s do it (Estonia), Let’s Do It! Estonia/ Let’s Do It! World Cleanup – volunteer for environmental change
- Steven Vanden Broucke, S-plus (Belgium), Oogpunt 2012 – an intergenerational volunteering project
- Marten Kaevats & Madle Lippus, New World Society (Estonia), Community Tools – Bringing Neighbours Together
- Henrique Sim-Sim, Fundação Eugénio de Almeida (Portugal), "Close to Home” Volunteer Centers: an inclusion tool
- Anna Lech & Patrycja Rokicka, Good Network Foundation (Poland), E-volunteering – a new concept in the fi eld of volunteering
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