Volunteers: the difference they make and the challenges they face

As part of the EYV 2011 activities being organized directly by the European Commission five high-visibility European conferences and events have been planned to take place in various cities around Europe. These will bring together interested parties from the worlds of volunteering, business and government to debate important volunteering issues and challenges.

The 2nd Thematic Conference for EYV 2011 “Volunteers: the difference they make and the challenges they face” is taking place between 23-24 May 2011, being hosted by the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee. This will be a high-profile event for between 300 and 400 grassroots volunteers, representatives of volunteering organizations and EU policy makers in Brussels, where they can share perspectives on a range of issues linked to their organizational and personal experience of volunteerin

The EYV 2011 Alliance has been invited to submit a list of 100 people who can successfully represent the diversity of volunteering from across the EU. The final selected participants will be invited directly by the European Commission to attend the event and will have their travel and accommodation costs covered. Both the Europe Region WAGGGS and WOSM- European Region are able to nominate up to 10 people each for a further selection which will be made by the EYV secretariat to ensure there is a geographical and gender balance, and a range of experience and motivations for attending.

So, if you feel familiar with issues related to volunteering in the EU and able to discuss these issues with other stakeholders contributing to the overall policy dialogue on volunteering in the EU; would like to share the reality of volunteering with stakeholders, given that the conference will look at the issues “through the eyes of the volunteer”; are resident in an EU member state, and are interested in representing your perspective of volunteering in our Movements at the conference, please complete the attached EU 2nd thematic conference application form (on which the selection will be based) and return it to eyv2011@europak-online.net by Tuesday 5th April. Participants should also be fluent in English as this will the working language (although there will be interpretation for the plenary sessions).

If more than 10 applications are received, there will be an initial pre-selection before the selection by the EYV Alliance.

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