|
Volunteering is at the heart of much of the work of the members of Eurodiaconia and we currently count over 600 000 volunteers active in our members all across Europe. Our membership draws together organisations, institutions and churches providing social and health services and education, which rely on both professional staff and volunteers.
Eurodiaconia has written a policy paper on volunteering to highlight why we support volunteering in the EU and in diaconal organisations. Until recently, the Volunteering Working Group met once or twice annually to share best practice in volunteering and to discuss volunteering policy, however from November 2011 onwards we will look at volunteering issues and policy within the People in Diaconia Network.
Eurodiaconia maintains good cooperation with EDYN (Ecumenical Diaconal Year Network). EDYN has been a guest membership of the Eurodiaconia volunteering working group. We are also an active member of the steering group of EYV2011 Alliance, which is an informal network of major NGO European networks with a particular interest in volunteering who have committed to working together on the promotion, lobbying, organisation and implementation of the EYV 2011
• Eurodiaconia Policy paper on volunteering
• Eurodiaconia Briefing on volunteering
• Report from the EYV2011 Kick-off meeting
Download our calender of events related to the EYV volunteering here.
To learn more about volunteering in Eurodiaconia, please contact Catherine at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
|
Logo competition for the European Alliance for Volunteering |
|
7 May 2013
The European Alliance for Volunteering (EAV) was established on 8th of February 2013 in Brussels, Belgium. Eurodiaconia is an founding (associate) member of the EAV. Find more about it at https://www.facebook.com/volunteeringalliance.
They are just beginning their work and are looking forward to advocating for your interests with the European Institutions and all relevant stakeholders in our field. Currently they are looking for volunteers to help us design a logo. They would like our logo to represent what is best in the volunteer spirit: generosity, commitment, care, respect, diversity, ownership. They would also like the logo to reflect the origin of EAV as an outcome of the European Year of Volunteering and the P.A.V.E. outcomes (you can learn more about P.A.V.E. at http://www.eyv2011.eu/images/stories/pdf/EYV2011Alliance_PAVE_copyfriendly.pdf).
They are therefore launching a competition for an EAV logo. Entries should be sent by 12th May 2013 via e-mail to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
in one of the following formats: JPEG, GIF, PDF, or EPS. Winning entry will serve as the official logo of the EAV, entrants must therefore ensure that their entries are not similar to existing logos or copyrighted images. The winning entry becomes property of the EAV. The winning entrant assigns all intellectual property rights (including trademark and copyright) in the winning logo to the EAV. Entrants are not entitled to any compensation or cost reimbursement.
The winner will be announced on 20th May 2013 and the prize is the participation in the event YOUropa Conference in London, UK, 26th-27th June 2013.
|
|
|
Youth in action funding opportunities 2013 |
|
The YOUTH IN ACTION programme is the EU’s mobility and non-formal education programme targeting young people aged between 13 and 30 years. Its general objectives are the following:
• Promote young people’s active citizenship in general and their European citizenship in particular;
• Develop solidarity and promote tolerance among young people, in particular in order to foster social cohesion in the European Union;
• Foster mutual understanding between young people in different countries;
• Contribute to developing the quality of support systems for youth activities and the capabilities of civil society organisations in the youth field;
• Promote European cooperation in the youth field.
The 5 operational actions:
Action 1.1 - Youth Exchanges Programme guide and application eForms 2013
Action 1.3 - Youth Democracy Projects Thematic Networking
Action 2 - European Voluntary Service (EVS) -
Action 3.1 - Cooperation with the Neighbouring Partner Countries of the European Union
Action 4.3 - Training and Networking of those active in youth work and youth organisations
Action 5.1 - Meetings of young people and those responsible for youth policyRound 1
For more information see here: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/youth/funding/2013/index_en.php
3 Deadlines a year:
01/02/2013
12:00 noon
(Brussels time)
Round 2
03/06/2013
12:00 noon
(Brussels time)
Round 3
03/09/2013
12:00 noon |
|
Eurodiaconia and CSC of CEC send joint letter to European Commission concerning Youth Guarantee |
|
Eurodiaconia and the Church and Society Commission of CEC have together sent a letter to Director General for Employment, Social Affairs, and Inclusion concerning the Youth Employment Guarantee initiative. In the letter it was emphasized that diaconal organisations have been engaging young people in a diaconal year of service for many years, and that the Ecumenical Diaconal Year Network (EDYN) exists to facilitate such volunteering experiences. As the Youth Guarantee focuses on giving young people opportunities to work, volunteer, and undergo training after finishing their education, Eurodiaconia and CEC proposed that the diaconal year can be taken as an example of good practice for the Council and should be part of the Commission's proposal for the Council's recommendation.
You can read the full letter here. |
|
Eurodiaconia co-founds European Alliance for Volunteering |
|
11 February 2013
Last week, Eurodiaconia attended the Founding General Assembly of the “EAV” the European Alliance for Volunteering together with the other European Founding members: European Youth Forum (YFJ), European Volunteer Centre (CEV), World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), World Organisation of the Scout Movement (WOSM) and Volonteurope.
Eurodiaconia has joined the EAV as an associate member and is looking forward to continuing the excellent cooperation that started in 2008 when lobbying for the European Year of Volunteering. Winning a European grant, the EYV2011 Alliance successfully implemented a 2 year project as the coordinating body for civil society fir the European Year. This newly founded association will provide the natural next step for the follow up of the Year by following up on the outcomes of 2011.
The objectives of the Alliance are to:
• Actively coordinate and develop efforts aimed at appropriate follow-up by targeted stakeholders of the policy recommendations contained in P.A.V.E and pursue other policy developments;
• Monitor and communicate developments in the European environment for volunteering and related policies, acting as a knowledge hub for volunteering;
• Coordinate and develop initiatives that respond to European policies impacting on volunteers and the volunteering sector.
The first President of EAV, Mr. Pavel Trantina, nominated by the World Organisation of the Scout Movement, highlighted “In two years time, I see the EAV as a well-established, fully functional platform with a membership reaching 20-30 pan-European networks dealing with volunteering. And as a reliable partner of the EU institutions, pushing forward P.A.V.E. and making visible the work of its member organisations, being considered as the main resource of expertise in the field, able to recommend specialists from its member organisations.”
The Founding General Assembly of EAV also elected the Board consisting of Vice-President Mr. Piotr Sadowski (Volonteurope) and members Ms. Christianna Papalia (WAGGGS) and Mr. Renzo Razzano (CEV). The Board has appointed Mr. Joao Salviano as a temporary Secretary General. The participants also adopted a Work Plan for the new platform. |
|
|
End of year volunteering update |
|
12 December 2012
As 2012 draws to a close, we have a prepared an update on volunteering with news about our work on volunteering in Eurodiaconia, from our volunteering partners and also information about volunteering policy developments in the EU institutions.
Click here to download the document. |
|
The Commission proposes a Recommendation on the validation of non-formal and informal learning |
|
3 December 2012
The European Commission has recently (this September) released a Proposal for a Council Recommendation on the Validation of non-formal and informal learning. The proposed actions include practical recommendations to Member States to provide by 2015 every citizen with the opportunity to have his/her skills acquired outside formal education and training systems validated and to use this validation for working and learning purposes throughout Europe.
For individuals, validation increase awareness of one’s skills and competences (for example gained through volunteering) and enables individuals to present those to other parties. It provides an opportunity to recognise untapped knowledge, skills and competences which can in turn tackles issues of unemployment and skills mismatch. It also benefits employers in terms of staff recruitment and development. This could be important for diaconal organisations and their volunteers as many Eurodiaconia members engage volunteers on a short to long-term basis. This would help skills and competences gained through volunteering experiences or in-company training for example be recognised across Europe in a transferable way.
Non-formal learning would include in-company training, structured online learning or courses organised by civil society organisations for their members, their target group or the general public. Whilst informal learning would include languages and intercultural skills acquired during a stay abroad, skills acquired through volunteering, cultural activities, sports, youth work and through activities at home (e.g. taking care of a child). The objectives of this initiative are outlined below.
• To read the proposal click here (see here for other languages)
• To read the EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT click here
General objectives of the initiative:
(1) To provide citizens in all Member States with the opportunity to validate their skills
acquired outside formal education and training systems;
(2) To provide citizens with the opportunity of using their validated skills for working
and learning purposes throughout Europe.
Specific objectives:
(1) To put in place systems for the validation of non formal and informal learning at
national level linked to the National Qualifications Framework;
(2) To establish an appropriate level of comparability and coherence between national
validation systems linked to the National Qualifications Framework.
Operational objectives:
(1) To promote national qualification frameworks in a way that qualifications can be
acquired through formal programmes as well as through the validation of non-formal
and informal learning;
(2) To provide mechanisms for the identification, documentation, and quality assured
assessment and validation of skills acquired through non-formal and informal
learning, taking advantage of common European instruments such Europass, ECTS,
ECVET;
(3) To allow individuals to have their skills and competences identified and documented
without resulting into a formal qualification;
(4) To extend and intensify the cooperation and exchange of good practice between
Member States, supported by peer-learning activities and European reporting tools;
(5) To raise the awareness of validation opportunities.
What does the Commission have to do?
The proposed actions call on the Commission to: 1) regularly update the European Guidelines for validating non-formal and informal learning; 2) facilitate effective peer-learning and exchange of experience and good practice allowing the least developed countries in validation to benefit from the experiences in the most developed countries; 3) in cooperation with the Member States, ensure that the European programmes for education, training, and youth and the European Structural Funds support the follow-up of this Recommendation and 4) assess and evaluate, in cooperation with the Member States and after consulting stakeholders, the
follow-up of the proposed actions. |
|
People in Diaconia Network meeting registration open |
|
22 November 2012
On 9-10 April 2013, Eurodiaconia will hold its annual People in Diaconia Network meeting in Brussels, Belgium. The aim of the People in Diaconia Network is to provide a forum for reflection on a variety of issues relating to topics of employment and volunteering in diaconia. This year’s focus will be on the topic of recruitment of care workers as well as values based training for care and health workers. We will also discuss diversity management as well as work on the short-term volunteer exchange forum and staff exchange initiative. Deadline for registration is 8 March 2013.
• Letter of invitation
• Draft agenda
• Registration
|
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 1 of 7 |
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
