Partnership pledges to promote volunteers’ role in social activism
06 June 2007: The indispensable role of volunteers in helping countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals is to be explored in a new co-publication by the CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE). The three institutions recently launched this project as part of a renewed joint agreement to “promote and generate greater awareness of the contributions of volunteers and the value of volunteer action to society.”
“This partnership is a timely step toward bridging the gap between volunteering and social activism,” said CIVICUS Secretary-General Kumi Naidoo. “While these two communities often overlap and join forces, as we see time and time again during mobilisations of the Global Call for action Against Poverty, more must be done to create synergy between these two worlds. Therefore our partnership is geared to promote new ways of coordination and engagement.”
CIVICUS recently welcomed UNV volunteer Karena Cronin at its headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa to manage the research and the drafting of the joint publication. The three signatories underscored the need to advance a shared understanding of volunteerism, specifically one that moves away from defining volunteering and social activism as mutually exclusive. The planned publication seeks to address this important issue and will showcase the powerful role of volunteering and activism for meeting development challenges, especially at the national and local levels.
“Efforts on the part of national governments to meet MDG targets, even when supported by the international community, will have a limited impact without significant volunteer contributions.” said Ad de Raad, Executive Director of UN Volunteers. “The beneficiaries of services need to be involved directly in the events and processes that affect their lives. Their active involvement and the involvement of millions like them are the key to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.”
In anticipation of the International Year of the Volunteer +10 in 2001 the organisations also agreed to pursue joint activities in support of international and national policy and legislation relating to volunteerism and to collaborate in celebrating ‘International Volunteer Day’ on December 5th
IAVE President Liz Burns commented, “We know that the MDG’s cannot be achieved without the active engagement of the world’s citizens as volunteers and activists. We must therefore work together to dismantle barriers like those which can still exist between ‘volunteers’ and ‘activists’. This joint initiative will be a means of identifying common ground and moving towards mutual recognition, leading in turn to a more effective combination of skills and approaches.”
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For more information:
· Micha Hollestelle, CIVICUS, South Africa (tel) +27 11 833-5959 ext. 125, cell +27 766 33 8525, Email: Micha.Hollestelle@civicus.org. See also
www.civicus.org.
· Scott McQuade, UNV, Germany (tel) +49 228 815-2220, Email: scott.mcquade@unv.org See
www.unv.org and
www.worldvolunteerweb.org.
· Anthony Carlisle, IAVE International Resource Center, Taiwan, (tel) +886-2-3322-3167, Email: info@iave.org, See also
www.iave.org
CIVICUS, UNV and IAVE have been working together since 2004 to strengthen the impact of volunteerism in achieving widely recognised goals of sustainable development, social justice and peace, including the MDG’s.
About the organisations
CIVICUS is an international movement with members and partners in more than 100 countries worldwide. Established in 1993, CIVICUS nurtures the foundation, growth and protection of citizen action throughout the world, especially in areas where participatory democracy and citizens’ freedom of association are threatened. CIVICUS seeks to amplify the voices and opinions of ordinary people. CIVICUS is involved in policy development, advocacy and capacity building for its membership and other civil society organizations around the world. CIVICUS is an international non-governmental organization with special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
IAVE is an international organisation whose aim is to promote, strengthen and celebrate the development of volunteering worldwide. Founded in 1970, it has over 500 members in some 75 countries. Most of its members are in developing countries, and include volunteer organisations, volunteer centres, volunteers and international companies. IAVE has active links with other international networks in the fields of research, development, service, youth, seniors, volunteer centres, international volunteering and corporate volunteering. Through these links, and its biennial world conferences, IAVE acts as a platform for volunteering interests. Through its membership and its network connections, IAVE reaches from the grassroots of volunteering to the global players. It is run by an international Board, elected by and from its members, and has special consultative status with the UN ECOSOC, and associative status with the UN DPI.
UNV is the United Nations focal point for promoting and harnessing volunteerism for effective development in more than 140 countries. Based in Bonn, Germany, and created by the UN General Assembly in 1970, UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and works through UNDP country offices and a network of international organizations and partners to mobilize more than 7,500 UN Volunteers annually, over 70 percent of whom come from developing nations. UNV also connects hundreds of development organisations to thousands of online volunteers every year. The United Nations General Assembly has designated UNV as its focal point for the follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers.
這是國際志工協會IAVE 、聯合國志願服務組織UNV與公民參與聯盟CIVICUS為提升全球社會行動中志工角色共同簽署聯合協定的消息，讓全國朋友ㄧ同分享國際志工最新訊息。
黃淑芬 Debbie S.F. Huang
台灣志願服務國際交流協會 秘書長
國際志工協會 全球董事
Secretary General, IAVE Taiwan
Board Member, IAVE
Tel: 07-3422101 # 751
07-3455887
Fax:07-3438101
E-mail: iave.taiwan@msa.hinet.net
