|
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
|
|
Final issue of the “Flow” newsletter |
|
3 Feburary 2012
As the European Year of Volunteering has now officially ended, the Alliance has published its final issue of the ‘Flow’ news with news from the European Year 2011 and from members of the Alliance (now 39 organisations!). To read the “flow” see here |
|
|
Diakonie Germany publish new figures on volunteers |
|
23 January 2012
During the European Year of Volunteering 2011, Diakonie Germany carried out research on its volunteers in diaconal institutions. Below you can download an initial presentation with the results of this research. However a more complete version and an article summarizing the findings will be published in February 2012. The total number of volunteers working in the German Diakonie was counted at 700.000 a remarkable and apparently unexpected figure and which was 300.000 more than estimated before the research was carried out.
|
|
Policy Agenda for Volunteering in Europe is now available |
|
12 December 2011
The P.A.V.E (Policy Agenda for Volunteering in Europe) is now available to download. Eurodiaconia has endorsed this publication which has been produced by the EYV2011 Alliance (www.eyv2011.eu) as one of its main activities during EYV2011. Eurodiaconia will be promoting the document at EU level, but we also encourage our members to read the document and think about how this can be useful to use at nation or local level to promote more effective and efficient volunteering policies. We are grateful to Diakonie Österreich and DW der EKD for their participation in writing this document during the European Year of Volunteering 2011. They were in particular involved in the working groups on quality volunteering, volunteering infrastructure and employee volunteering. To download the publication, click on the link here.
|
|
Eurodiaconia and EDYN joint conference report |
|
6 December 2011
On 7 and 8 November, EDYN and Eurodiaconia members met in Brussels for a joint conference on “volunteering as a means to fight social exclusion in Europe today”. The conference was attended by over 40 participants from all over Europe who are involved in volunteering, volunteer management or policy making in diaconal organisations. During the conference there were speeches from representatives of the European Commission and MEP Marian Harkin who joined in a panel discussion on how volunteering promotes social inclusion. Participants discussed, debated and networked in a global café style activity and also in workshops. For a full report and to download presentations, see below.
Workshop presentations and reports:
Session 1:
- Roottori Training Programme - community action based learning for empowerment, a neighbourhood project in the city of Järvenpää, Kaija Tuuri, Helsinki Deaconess Institute, Finland
Presentation
- Voluntary Service to Challenge Stereotypes and Racism, Richard Otterness, Phiren Amenca / Roma-Gadje Dialogue Through Service
- Can we avoid the typical? Volunteering and people experiencing social exclusion, Heather Roy, Secretary General of Eurodiaconia
Report
Session 2:
- Working with Homeless People towards Participation, Peter Szynka, Diakonie Germany
Presentation
- Experiencing the Four Life Dimensions: a framework for non-formal learning in volunteering and other cross-border initiatives, Hester Bergsma, Project leader of the ‘Togetthere’ Programme, Netherlands
Presentation
Accompanying document
Report
- Volunteering and the economic and financial crisis, risks and opportunities, Ferenc Turcsik, Director of EDYN
Presentation
Report
|
|
|
Report available from People in Diaconia Network meeting |
|
6 December 2011
Eurodiaconia recently held its first People in Diaconia Network meeting on 8-9 November. This meeting aimed to “wrap up” the European Year of Volunteering but also start looking at some issues within the field of employment in diaconia. Please see below for the presentations from the meetings and the final report.
This Network will meet annually. If you would like to join the People in Diaconia Network, please email me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
Report
Diakonie ECCB, Czech Republic – new training system
CrossReach, Scotland – Genuine Occupation requirements
EYV2011 Eurodiaconia Summary
EYV2011 Alliance presentation
AGE Platform presentation: linking 2011 and 2012 |
|
5th December is International Volunteer Day! |
|
6 December 2011
The 5th December is a day where we celebrate our volunteers all around the world. Volunteers are of enormous value to Eurodiaconia members as they volunteer alongside professional care staff in social services across Europe, raising the quality and bringing added value to the services provided.
So, what is happening for volunteers at European level? Last week was the closing conference of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 held in Warsaw, Poland. There were interesting panel discussions on quality voluntary activities, raising awareness of the value and importance of volunteering as well as how volunteering will present in the forthcoming European Years 2012 and 2013.
During the conference, the EYV2011 Alliance officially handed over the P.A.V. E (Policy Agenda for Volunteering in Europe) to European Commissioner Kristalina Georgieva. The PAVE is the product of a hard year of work for the Alliance working groups in which we had members from Diakonisches Werk der EKD and Diakonie Österreich. The document aims to:
• Support a more efficient and effective policy framework
• Support and promote volunteers, volunteering and volunteer-involving organisations.
• Ensure a lasting legacy for EYV 2011 by encouraging all stakeholders to address the shortcomings of current policies.
• Addresses Stakeholder groups according to EYV 2011 objectives
(To read more about the Alliance see here http://www.eyv2011.eu/ )
Eurodiaconia adopted the P.A.V.E document and will continue to support its implementation. As soon as it is available to download we shall inform you.
If you can help us evaluate the European Year of volunteering, please see here. |
|
Evaluation of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 (EYV2011) |
|
28 November 2011
As 2011 draws to a close, we would like to evaluate the European Year of Volunteering in terms of activities we did here at Eurodiaconia, but we would also like to know more about your year and what happened locally and nationally. From Brussels it is very difficult to have a real sense of whether the European Year had a significant impact across Europe, so we would really love to hear your assessment of the Year. We will send a summarised version of our feedback to the European Commission (of course no names will be used) to help them improve on European Years. We will also reflect internally about how to make the most of European Year and also how to follow up on the legacy of the year in terms of volunteering policy, practice and advocacy. If you are a member of Eurodiaconia and responsible for volunteers or volunteering policy in your organisation, please open the short questionnaire here and send your completed form to
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
by 20 January 2012. |
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Next > End >>
|
|
Page 3 of 7 |
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
