CLIPOUT clipout>> mailout’s cut out and keep guide to good practice Plan Ahead and Prosper
We in the mailout office do, on occasion, read what we print in mailout and when a certain article within this issue made reference to 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity it got us thinking. If we had known in advance that 2010 was the
International Year of Biodiversity would we have planned our projects differently? Would we have created more features on participatory arts and science? Should we have been creating projects with this subject matter in mind? The what ifs and the should haves could haunt us well into 2020 so we thought we best
prepare our readership for the future and give you a heads up on ‘Year ofs’ for 2011 so you can start planning now!
2011 The Year of the… Volunteer
social cohesion is significantly strengthened.
Be prepared to hear the acronym EYV 2011 a lot next year. It’s the European Year of Volunteering.
More than 100 million Europeans engage in voluntary activities, and the voluntary sector contributes an estimated 5% to the GDP of our national economies. A Eurobarometer survey in 2006 revealed that 3 out of 10 Europeans claim to be active in a voluntary capacity and that close to 80% of respondents feel that voluntary activities are an important part of democratic life in Europe.
There is a vast array of notions, definitions and traditions concerning volunteering. However, what is common throughout Europe is that wherever people engage together in activities to help each other, support those in need, preserve our environment, campaign for human rights, or to initiate actions to help ensure that everyone enjoys a decent life – both society as a whole and the individual volunteers benefit and
Why volunteering matters:
> Volunteers are the agents of European values and objectives as laid down in the Treaties, in particular in terms of promoting social cohesion, solidarity, and active participation
> Volunteering contributes to building a European identity rooted in these values and towards attaining a mutual understanding between people in society and across Europe
> Volunteering is indispensable in a wide range of EU policy areas such as social inclusion, the provision of life-long learning opportunities for all, policies affecting young people, inter-generational dialogue, active aging, integration of migrants, intercultural dialogue, civil protection, humanitarian aid and development, sustainable development and environmental protection, human rights, social service delivery, raising employability, the promotion of an active European citizenship,
fighting the “digital gap”, and within corporate social responsibility
> Volunteers and their organisations are at the forefront of developing innovative actions to detect, voice and respond to needs arising in society.
Volunteers mirror the diversity of European society with people of all ages, gender, employees and unemployed, people from different ethnic backgrounds and belief groups and finally citizens from all nationalities being involved.
However, 7 in 10 people do not volunteer and many people face barriers towards volunteering such as a lack of information on how to become involved; time pressure; scarce economic resources and the feeling of not being able to afford to volunteer; a negative image of volunteering stemming from times where volunteering was a rather compulsory duty; discrimination; discouraging legal provisions and an absence of a legal status; missing protection against risks involved; visa or other barriers for non EU citizens –
mailout planning ahead 37
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