Forum Discussion Paper 2016 Why Measure and for Whose Benefit? Addressing the Challenges of Measuring the Contribution of Volunteering for Development in a Multiple Stakeholder Environment

This is the seventeenth in a series of discussion papers produced by the International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum), which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and cooperation in recent years. This paper aims to explore the different drivers that international volunteering and volunteering for development organisations face in addressing how the contribution of volunteers is understood and measured. It considers this in the context of the historical changes in international volunteering for development, locating different approaches to measurement to the interface of stakeholder expectations and changes in the narrative on aid and development. The views expressed in this paper are not necessarily those of Forum or its members, or of the organisation for which the author works. The responsibility for these views rests with the author alone.

Chris Eaton,
Chair of Forum