The Second Pledge for the EP Volunteering and Solidarity Intergroup comes from MEP Ms Michaela ŠOJDROVÁ.  Ms ŠOJDROVÁ expresses her willingness to support the establishment of this important Intergroup in the European Parliament from May 2019, if elected once again. Contact your MEP candidates so that they can also pledge their support and contribute to better and more co-ordinated policies on solidarity and volunteering at the EU level!  Find the pledge template here.


 

The 2018 European Week of Regions and Cities #EUREGIONSWEEK (Brussels 8 - 11 October) will for the first time feature an event dedicated to volunteering and the European Volunteering Capitals in the cluster of “Education, culture and youth”. Hosted by a consortium of Volunteer capitals, candidate municipalities and volunteer friendly cities Aarhus, Guimaraes, Kosice, Sligo and Konjice and supported by CEV the workshop will focus on Building cohesive communities through Solidarity and Volunteering . More information here.

The Women’s Museum in Aarhus

The two ESC Volunteers Francesca Pisano and Uliana Bashniak paid a visit to The Women’s Museum, which is located in the city centre of European Volunteering Capital Aarhus 2018.They spoke to Volunteer Coordinator Susanne Balle about the museum’s mentoring programme ‘The Women’s Museum’s Cultural Meetings’. A programme, which involves Danish and international women in the construction of solid relationships between mentors (usually Danes or well-integrated expats) and mentees (newcomers of different nationality). Find more here.

Aarhus Pride

Volunteers are an essential part of making the magic of Pride happen and this year Aarhus Pride once again proved this statement: on the first Saturday of June, a team of more than 90 volunteers were busy with putting up the lounge zone, staging, cleaning, assisting in the bar, helping members of the public and those in the parade, as well as doing lots of behind the scenes work. Find more here.

Café Nexus: Bringing normality into Aarhus Universitetshospital

Café Nexus is a special place where young patients between 12 and 22 years old can take a break from everyday’s fears and worries. From Monday to Thursday between 18:30 and 21, the volunteers and the young people spend some time together doing ordinary activities, which might disappear from your routine if you are hospitalized: chatting with friends, playing board games, watching films. Find more here.

Helping international students feel at home

“Volunteering is a way to make friends and give back to the community.” Interview with Florine Lemahieu, a master student from Northern France and a volunteer in Erasmus Student Network (ESN) and IGroup at Aarhus University. Find more here.

Team London, #EVCapital 2016, is offering small grants of £5,000 - £10,000 to community groups, small charities and voluntary sector organisations to run volunteering projects that bring Londoners together and lead to improvements in social integration.  The small grants will provide a source of income for smaller organisations to meet local needs which may not meet the criteria for larger-scale funding. Application deadline 20 August 2018. Find more here.

On 5 July, João Teixeira, CEV Board Member, presented CEV, its role and activities at the Summer School on Volunteering  in Évora (PT) in the panel "Public policies for the promotion of Volunteering". The event has been organised by the CEV member Fundação Eugénio de Almeida and focused on the challenges of capturing ideas for new projects, accelerating knowledge, developing skills and creating an ecosystem for the development of volunteering.Find more here.

On 21-22 June in Zaragoza, Spain, João Teixeira, representing CEV Board, and the Portuguese Confederation of Volunteering (CPV) participated as a speaker at the II EU-LAC (European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean) Youth Days, which brought together representatives of two sides of the Atlantic. João presented the initiatives of the Portuguese Volunteer Trophy and Quality Seal in Volunteering, of the CPV, the Municipality Prize of CM Lisboa, and CEV’s European Volunteering Capital Competition.  Find more here.

On 6 June, Gabriella Civico, CEV Director, participated in the Europe for Citizens Civil Dialogue Meeting. The Civil Dialogue group is made of civil society organisations and meets regularly in the framework of the Europe for Citizens programme. he Commission proposal of the “European Rights and Values programme” to replace the Europe for Citizens programme post 2020 was presented and discussed. Find more here.

On 14-15 June, Gabriella Civico, Sara Fasoli and Wanda Alarcón, participated in the the First Validation Festival in Brussels organised by DG EMPL.  The Festival gathered 250 practitioners, experts, policy makers, and users from the worlds of employment, social partners, adult education and VET, youth, higher education, etc to showcase policies and practices, discuss the shape of validation of informal and non-formal learning in Europe, and reflect on the future. CEV hosted a stand where validation tools for the recognition of non-formal and informal skills acquired through volunteering were presented. CEV staff and Marta Moroni (Ciessevi, Milano) presented LEVER UP,  a multi-sectoral tool for the validation of transversal competencies acquired whilst volunteering and Cvol, a Volunteer skills portfolio aimed at enhancing the skills acquired in volunteering. Massimiliano Trulli from CESVE (Rome, Italy) presented Voyce, a tool for competencies emersion and Ana Gomez (PVE) presented  VOl+ - Improving employability of volunteers in Spain through validation of skills and competencies. Read more here.

CEV attended the ETUC/ETUI conference: “The World(s) of Work in Transition”  The importance of  “transversal” skills, such as those acquired while volunteering were stressed.


 

On 28 June, Gabriella Civico, CEV Director, representing Civil Society Europe, discussed the shrinking space for civil society in Europe and repeated the call for better support and recognition  for civil society’s watchdog role at a round table discussion in the European Parliament organised by the ERGO (European Roma Grassroots Organisations) Network and its members. The event was hosted by Soraya Post (Greens/EFA), Peter Niedermuller (S&D). The debate was closed by Bodil Valero MEP and Natacha Katatchkine, Head of the EU internal policy team for the Open Society European Policy Institute. Find more here.

On 28 June, Gabriella Civico, CEV Director, delivered a  workshop on how to measure Impact and evaluate the work done by youth organisations at the European Youth Forum Academy in Brussels. The programme was built around 3 specific profiles of participants engaged in the day to day running of YFJ  member organisations. The overall programme was tailored to roles and learning needs of participating secretary Generals, policy officers and communication officers. Find more here.

On 20 June, Giulia Bordin, CEV Project and Policy Officer, attended the Erasmus + Coalition meeting where, in addition to sharing updates and developments of the Erasmus + X10 campaign, the Joint Contribution on the Future of Erasmus + outlining the vision of the Erasmus+ Coalition on the future generation of the Erasmus+ programme, based on its current implementation and potential areas for improvement, was presented . Find more here.

From June 23-30, 28 participants from 4 countries met in Lysos (CY) for the training called “Mentors – Masters of the EVS Learning Path” the second learning activity within the Erasmus Plus strategic partnership “EVS Realm: Masters of the Learning Path”. The training aimed to develop competences of different youth workers working as support persons for European Volunteers in educational projects, mainly in the role of mentors, testing also a training design and a toolbox for Mentors developed by the project partners. The project results will be presented during the CEV Congress, taking place in Brussels on 25 October 2018. Find more about the project here, and about the event in Brussels here.

CEV attended the EESC Public Hearing "Next EU Youth Strategy" discussing about youth current situation in Europe, existing structures and future strategies. You can see CEV policy statement  on Youth Guarantee here.


 

On  29 and 30 May 2018, CEV Communications and Events Officer Andreea Nagy volunteered for the Serious Road Trip Romania supported by CEV’s employee volunteering policy. She assisted the organisation with communication expertise and compiled communication materials based on the history of the initiative in Romania, officially registered in Romania in 2007. Read more...
 

On 9-10 July, Juan Manuel Báez, CEV ESC Policy and Project Trainee, supported by CEV’s employee volunteering policy, volunteered in Madrid Pride in the Visitor Information Centre providing tips to tourists gathering there  from all around the world to enjoy the celebration and the city in the most respectful possible way.

 

SCULT Belgium Facebook Page is now running! On it you can find information about sports events and achievements in the country as well as the most recent opportunities to volunteer in these events. You can find the page here.
 

CEV Member, France Benevolat, in partnership with other French organisations, is asking to the French Government to reconsider its decision on volunteering (benevol) where it is recognized as a possible method  of employment insertion. They called on associations and public authorities not to exploit volunteering under the slogan: "Volunteering can not be mandatory! ". Find more here.

CEV Member, Volunteer Ireland has published a research on the positive impact of volunteering on individual volunteers. Volunteering has been proven to have a positive impact on a person’s overall health and well-being. As this link between volunteering and well-being has already been identified in other research, this report aims to delve deeper into what that means for the volunteer. You can find it here.

Agreement has been reached on new European Solidarity Corps! The EUR 375,6 million budget will be made available between 2018-2020.90% of the budget will be for volunteering activities and 10% for traineeships and job placements. This will enable many more young people to be able to act in solidarity and support the needs of others whilst at the same time gaining skills and knowledge for their future long-term prospects. European Parliament negotiators secured in the programme a wide range of areas of activities, such as education, health, environmental protection, disaster prevention, provision of food and non-food items as well as reception and integration of migrants and asylum seekers. Priority will be given to non-profit activities. Find  more here.

The new EU AID Volunteers newsletter has been published. In it, you can read their updates on events, news and stories about the initiative and its network. EU Aid Volunteers brings together volunteers and organisations to support humanitarian aid projects. Click here to read the newsletter.

The Austrian presidency of the Council of the EU started on 1 July and will end on 31 December 2018. The priorities of the Austrian Presidency are driven by this motto: "A Europe that protects". The Presidency programme places a focus on asylum and migration issues, on protecting external borders, on fighting radicalisation, terrorism and organised crime, on digital security, and on protecting European values. Since joining the EU in 1995, this is the third time that Austria holds the presidency of the Council of the EU after 1998 and 2006. Find more here.

The EESC has published video highlights of the Civil Society Days 2018 that took place on May 24th- 25th, thanking all organisers and guests. Find the video here and the final reports here.

Civil Society Europe has presented on 22 June 2018 at a side event at the Human Rights Council in Geneva its second report on civic space in Europe 2017. The report maps out key trends on civic space in Europe, based on the perception of civil society organisations. The report calls for the European institutions to act more proactively on the shrinking civic space by  playing a greater role in upholding democratic principles and setting guidelines to ensure an enabling environment for civil society. Find more here.






 

Civil Society Organisations organise “NO DAY WITHOUT US” on 10th December 2018 on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Civic actors, organisations, movements  or any citizen that supports the fight for rights and justice are invited to join this symbolic but visible “no day without us” all across Europe. Read more here.

On 13th of September, the Lifelong Learning Platform and its InnoVal project partners will hold the  European Conference on Innovative Assessment Methods for Validation where validation policies and methods targeting disadvantaged groups will have the focus. Register and read more here.

Registration for SCULT Fest 2018 is open! SCULT Fest brings together world-class keynote speakers related to sports across the globe, offering a variety of master-classes and a unique platform for experience-sharing. SCULT Fest 2018 together with its side events and the SCULT Awards Gala 2018 will take place on November 30th 2018 at Tallinn University, Estonia. Click here to view the whole program.



 

The State of Volunteering Report from Volunteering New Zealand is out. In it you can find insights from a survey of the community and voluntary sector that emphasised the way volunteer-involving organisations (VIOs)recruit, induct, train and manage volunteers. Read it here.

FOCSIV is celebrating the International Volunteer Day in December with the 25th edition of International Volunteer Award and every volunteering organisation may submit candidates for two different categories: Young European Volunteer and Local Volunteer from the Global South. Propose candidates until the 27th of August by clicking here.

SALTO I&D, UK and IT NAs would like to see more young people with fewer opportunities taking part in volunteering projects. This is why they are offering a course that brings together social enterprises, youth workers, and volunteering organisations to foster inclusive volunteering. Find more here.