This collection brings together the research that was prepared by Forum in advance of the IVCO 2022 conference on the theme ‘A New Dawn for Volunteering in Development’.
A New Dawn: Strategic Pathways for the Future of Volunteering in Development is a framing paper for the IVCO 2022 Conference.
This paper by Sive Bresnihan, Training & Education Officer with Comhlámh asks how the field of volunteering for development – which typically enjoys and asserts an aid of neutrality and benevolence – might meet growing calls for decolonisation.
This piece by Bianca Fadel of Northumbria University challenges academics and practitioners to reconsider our notions of volunteering and development, and our assumptions about the ways volunteering offers a pathway to development.
In this piece Dr Alok Rath, Global Head of Knowledge, Evidence & Learning at VSO, considers the unequal way in which the COVID-19 pandemic has inflicted economic, social and human impact in different parts of the world.
Researchers from the Refugee Youth Volunteering Uganda Project (RYVU) present their findings on the diverse and sometimes contradictory meanings and understandings that the term ‘volunteer’ holds in Uganda, and the knock-on effect that these diverse understandings have on how organisations and policy-makers facilitate volunteering.
This think piece by Jan Olav Baarøy, Director General of the Norwegian Agency for Exchange Cooperation (Norec) looks at the demands that organisations in the Global North make of their partners in the Global South, using the metaphor of a gift that can only be kept if used properly.
This paper by Claire Bennett of AltoLearn sets out a pathway for international volunteering organisations to address structural, global issues of power dynamics, attitudes and systems.
This piece by Helene Perold and Benjamin Haas highlights some aspects of how digitalisation in volunteering for development has impacted on inclusive volunteering as a pathway to other forms of citizenship and peace building.
This piece by Dr Chris Millora of the University of East Anglia addresses our limited research-based understanding of volunteering in the ‘Global South’ and challenges dominant, ‘Global North’-based understandings of volunteering.
This piece by Alice Chadwick El-Ali of the University of Bath highlights the importance of volunteering, and volunteers, at the local and national levels, and calls for them to be better recognised and resourced.
This piece by Elaine Sly, a volunteer with CBM Ireland’s project VIVID: Technical Assistance in Humanitarian Response, Ensuring Valuable Volunteering and Inclusion of persons with Disabilities.
This piece by Helge Espe of Norec is a contemporary commentary on the famous address by Monsignor Ivan Illich to the Conference on InterAmerican Student Projects in Cuernavaca, Mexico, in 1968.
This framing paper for IVCO 2021 connects debates around decolonising aid and development with discussions on diversity and inclusion in Volunteering for Development (V4D) programmes.
This Introductory Paper for IVCO 2021 introduces the conference theme – Inclusive Volunteering for Global Equality, and sub-themes – Decolonisation, Digitalisation, and Directionality.
This paper explores the connection between volunteering and climate action.
To better understand the current action, gaps, and opportunities for volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs) to tackle climate change, this study reports on the results of a survey of VIOs’ activities and good practice models.
This paper starts with an overview of its reach and rationale, followed by an introduction that provides the context as to why the Pacific is a highly relevant (virtual) setting for the IVCO 2020 theme, Volunteering for Climate Action, and then discusses: 1.
This paper presents preliminary findings from a study commissioned by Forum to examine how the disruption of international volunteering by COVID-19 is impacting on the work of international volunteer cooperation organisations (IVCOs), other VIOs, partners and the communities they serve.
This study reports on the results of two surveys of which aimed to explore the experiences of Volunteering Involving Organisations (VIOs) and volunteers with seven International Volunteering and Co-operation Organisations (IVCOs).
This paper was discussed at IVCO 2019, as part of the launch of the Global Standard for Volunteering for Development.
This paper addresses the work of international volunteer cooperation organisations to measure, understand and learn from the scale and nature of their collective work, and to address its contribution to development.
Using examples from organisations in East Africa, this paper examines emergent efforts at quality improvement, standards setting and accreditation for volunteering in the African context.
This paper will be discussed at IVCO 2019.
This paper has been produced for IVCO 2018, the International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations’ Conference.
The potential for volunteers to remain involved in action for development following an international placement has long been recognised, both by organisations involved in international volunteering and by volunteers themselves.
This paper has been produced for IVCO 2017 and is one of a series of papers exploring this year’s conference theme Implementation of the SDGs through transformative partnership in volunteering.
This paper is to encourage constructive discussion on the interface between international and national volunteering and the opportunities and challenges this provides for IVCOs in a universal Global Goals world.
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 discusses options for documenting and showcasing the collective contributions of a diverse community of volunteers to sustainable development, in the context of the adoption by the United Nations of the universal Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September 2015, and highlights the challenges and opportunities this presents for Forum members.
This paper examines ways that modern donor practices may challenge IVCOs’ alignment with the interests of civil society in partner countries—particularly in circumstances where a strong focus on service delivery and poverty eradication limit support for grassroots movements aimed at transformational structural and social change.
This is the fourteenth 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.
Engaging in the Process Nationally, Regionally and Globally Over the past decade, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have generated unprecedented global efforts to reduce poverty and inequality.
This is the thirteenth 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 co-operation in recent years.
This is the executive summary of the thirteenth 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 co-operation in recent years.
This is the twelfth in a series of discussion papers produced by Forum, which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the eleventh in a series of discussion papers produced by the International Forum on Development Service (Forum), which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and cooperation in recent years.
This is the tenth in a series of discussion papers produced by the International Forum on Development Service (Forum), which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and cooperation in recent years.
This is the eighth in a series of discussion papers produced by the International FORUM on Development Service (FORUM), which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the seventh in a series of discussion papers produced by the International FORUM on Development Service (FORUM), which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the ninth in a series of discussion papers produced by the International FORUM on Development Service (FORUM), which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the sixth in a series of discussion papers produced by FORUM, which follows on from our research work on trends in international volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the fifth in a series of discussion papers produced by FORUM, which follows on from our research work on trends in International volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the forth in a series of discussion papers produced by FORUM, which follows on from our research work on trends in International volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the second in a series of discussion papers produced by FORUM, which follows on from our research work on trends in International volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This is the first in a series of discussion papers produced by Forum, which follows on from our research work on trends in International volunteering and co-operation in recent years.
This discussion paper provides an overview of the implications of climate change on development organisations, in particular organisations concerned with international volunteering (International Volunteer Co-operation Organisations [IVCOs]).
Government and civil society in Ethiopia have made great strides in recent years in building infrastructure for national voluntary service.
This piece by Oluwafunmilayo Taiwo, a BeyGOOD x Global Citizen Fellow, explains that volunteering is embedded within the traditional communalism of many African cultures, including the ọmọlúwàbí, or public morality, philosophy of the Yoruba people.
Placing international voluntary service in the context of travel by missionaries, explorers and colonisers, this think piece by Ratherford Mwaruta of the Zimbabwe Workcamps Association asserts that international volunteering echoes the relationships and power dynamics of coloniser and colonised while failing to address the root causes of poverty and inequality.
Drawing on research on blended approaches by VSO and Northumbria University, this think piece by Rebecca Pursell-Gotz and Alok Rath of VSO argues that the value of international volunteers is greatest when programmes recognise the value of local models through blended models of volunteering.
This think piece identifies a gap between rhetoric and reality on decolonisation and localisation, and asks what IVCOs can do to centre Southern expertise and re-imagine the connection between volunteering and development to deliver transformational change.
Cet article d’Ingrid Adovi et Olga Houde de Programme de coopération volontaire Compétences, Leadership, Éducation (Programme CLÉ), raite des avantages de réunir des volontaires (CV) d’origines diverses dans une perspective intersectionnelle, en particulier pour les mandats stratégiques tels que l’égalité et l’inclusion des genres (IEG).
Following up on the authors’ IVCO 2022 paper Volunteering for Climate Action, this think piece asks whether that paper’s core message – an urgent need for climate action – has been heard and actioned by Forum members.
This think piece by Helge Espe of Norec draws on the research report Partnership – Just another Buzzword?
This piece by Nichole Cirillo and Wendy Osborne draws on IAVE’s Leadership for Volunteering: The COVID-19 Experience research report, which looks at the impact that the pandemic had on the strategic role of leadership for volunteering organisations in advocacy, development, and volunteer mobilisation.
This piece by Chris O’Connell and Sive Bresnihan of Comhlámh draws on conversations their organisation is having on the idea of ‘ecological sustainability’ as a core organisational value.
This think piece by Andrée Ménard, WUSC’s Durable Solutions for Refugees Specialist, explores the critical role that the Volunteering for Development sector can and must play in an era of rapidly increasing numbers of forced displacements of people.
The world is experiencing a period of extraordinary change, and organisations are transforming themselves to adapt to an emerging operating environment.
This IVCO 2022 think piece by Dr.
The value of international volunteer-driven development is a question of debate and occasional scepticism, and contrasting viewpoints each have merit.
Volunteers and volunteer effort are essential to the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda, and to achieving the aim of eradicating poverty and promoting prosperity.
On 25 April 2016, the Volunteer Groups Alliance on behalf of “Volunteer Groups” submitted a Position Paper to the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) session of 2016.
On the 1st May, the Post-2015 Volunteering Working Group on behalf of “Volunteer Groups” submitted a Position Paper to the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) session of 2015.
This document outlines the key messages on the Role of Volunteerism in shaping and implementing an inclusive and sustainable development agenda for the future 2014, as well as Forum’s call for volunteerism to be recognised and supported as a mechanism for the successful delivery of the post-2015 goals.
This paper follows a 2012 survey of Forum members by Peter Devereux, for UNV; the presentation of the paper, MDGs, Sustainable Development Goals and the post 2015 agenda: opportunities for consolidating the recognition of volunteerism (Peter Devereux and Kornelia Guse) at Forum’s IVCO meeting in Canada in October 2012; the Ottawa Declaration; and Forum members’ participation at the London High Level meeting in January, and contribution of an on line submission as part of the preparatory process for the second high level meeting in Monrovia.
This paper is based on a study commissioned by the International Forum for Volunteering in Development with two objectives: to deepen Forum members’ collective understanding of inequalities in volunteering research, their root causes and how they are manifested; and to use this improved understanding to propose concrete ways in which a range of actors in the volunteering research space can address these inequalities.
A New Dawn: Strategic Pathways for the Future of Volunteering in Development is a report for Forum member organisations based Forum’s Collective Strategy Process.
La norme internationale du volontariat pour le développement a été développée en 2018-19 grâce à un processus de consultation de l’ensemble du secteur du volontariat pour le développement.
These case studies form part of the study commissioned by the International Forum for Volunteering in Development to examine the impact of COVID-19 on volunteers, volunteer involving organisations and volunteering for development.
This study reports on the results of two surveys that aimed to explore the experiences of volunteer involving organisations and volunteers with seven international volunteering and cooperation organisations.
In mid-2020, Forum launched an ambitious research project to inform the future of volunteering for development post-COVID.
This research paper summarises the UNV-Forum-commissioned report on International Volunteering and Governance.
The value of international volunteer-driven development is a question of debate and occasional scepticism.
Dr Margaret Sherradan’s research, publishing, and teaching activities focus on access and equity in domestic and international social policies, social and economic development, asset building and financial education, immigration and health, and global social policies.
The first of a series of annual reports measuring the collective contribution of volunteering for development.
This is the nineteenth 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 was first written to stimulate discussion at the IVCO Conference in November 2008 in Cambodia.
For a number of years Forum has undertaken a survey of its members to understand and share what is happening in international volunteering throughout the world.
The following report presents results from the IVCO survey conducted by Development Initiatives.
The purpose of this discussion paper is, is to review current trends, innovation and best practices amongst international volunteer cooperation agencies regarding the added value of international volunteering.
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