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CEV NEWS OCTOBER 2018
Watch the video here.


Registration is still Open for the CEV Autumn 2018 Volunteering Congress in Brussels to be held for two full days of 25 and 26 October. You can register here and  you can find the programme outline here.

 

In preparation for  the next European Parliament Elections in April 2019 CEV has made available the updated “Vote Volunteer Vision Campaign”. VVV is a Toolkit for CEV members and other Volunteer-Involving Organisations to discover and develop the European Parliament candidates’ opinions on volunteering with reference to the Policy Agenda on Volunteering in Europe (PAVE) & the “Helping Hands EYV 2011 5-Year Review” and the 5R Policy Priorities. The campaign again includes the opportunity for EP candidates to pledge to support an Intergroup on Solidarity and Volunteering if elected.  Download the fully completed version here and the empty template here.


NEWS FROM #EVCapital 2018 AARHUS

On December 3rd-4th & 5th Aarhus, together with EV Capital 2018 Candidate City Ringkoebing-Skjern, will host  the international study visit and conference “A new beginning”. This will be the closing event for the #EVCapital in Aarhus and will present the impact of this award in the city and wider region. Places are limited. Find out more here. And register to attend here.

In the frame of the European Capital of Volunteering 2018, the Aarhus  Volunteering Festival  took place on 21-23 September.  It included debates, conversation and plenty of cultural and sports activities showcasing volunteering in the City. CEV Director, Gabriella Civico attended to facilitate a debate on European Volunteering in the Regions as part of #EURegionsWeek 2018, focusing on social inclusion of under represented groups, especially youth as volunteers.  Watch the sum up video here.

As part of their year as European Volunteering Capital, Aarhus has commissioned a “pause for thought” booklet about volunteering, which urges the reader to reflect on how volunteers have an impact in their lives and if they could fit volunteering in their lives. . Even before the city was awarded the title of Volunteering Capital, the city’s Mayor, Jacob Bundsgaard, co-authored a book on how local volunteer communities are  a significant factor in social cohesion.

Genny Cabas, ESC Volunteer in Aarhus, reflects on her experiences during the Volunteering Festival. She elaborates her thoughts on the topics that were addressed such as exclusion, the role of volunteering in personal life and the role of policy makers. Read the whole article here.

EV Capital 2020 Candidates news

The Volunteering Festival of Stirling ran from 19th – 25th September with an increase in participation from third sector organisations, local and national charities as well as Stirling community as compared with previous editions (over 2500 participants and more than 30 organisations). The tickets for the closing youth conference in conjunction with the Year of Young People 2018 were sold out and the organisers are already looking forward to next year’s edition. Find out more here.

Solidaria, the Volunteering Festival of Padova involved more than 50 different activities from over 40 organisations and a huge number  of volunteers. Participants could take pictures with a frame supporting the candidacy of the municipality to the EV Capital 2020 competition. Check out their facebook for more information.

The Regional Council of Veneto, showing their engagement with volunteering has published a press release where they analyse the potential of the region as European Capital of Volunteering 2020 for the city of Padova and to offer their support to the candidacy. Read more here.

CEV ACTIVITIES

On 10-11 October CEV organised  two sessions during the #EURegionsWeek2018 on the topic of  “Building cohesive communities through solidarity and volunteering” Representatives from European Volunteering Capitals and candidate municipalities spoke about the impact of the competition in their cities.  The participants exchanged ideas about what actions are required from local and regional policy-makers in order to strengthen, encourage and celebrate volunteering. Find the album of the event here.


The Tandem Project has been brought within the CEV work programme. Since 2016, Tandem aims to gather NGOs and Refugees and Asylum seekers that would like to volunteer to offer them both an experience of learning, working and growing together. If you would like to become a Tandem Volunteer, host a placement in your organisation or just learn more about this initiative click here.


Two conferences have been held as part of the Europe for Citizens project SolidalCiti, In Cluj-Napoca and Athens representatives of CEV members, other partner organisations and interested citizens, volunteers and beneficiaries of volunteering projects considered the, “Multiple Facets of Solidarity”  and “Solidarity in times of Crisis and the Role of Citizens”. Find out more here.
 


On 2 October, Giulia Bordin, CEV Project Officer attended the seminar "The EPSR and the European Semester as tools for delivering Social Europe, a reflection with Civil Society”. Where the recent reforms in supporting social inclusion in the context of the European Semester were examined. Find out more here.

 


On September 25th, Juanma Báez, CEV ESC Project and Policy Trainee, attended ECAS Europe conference on citizens rights and freedom of movement where they launched the platform #YouVoteEU to inform voters on EU policies and their representatives. Find the new website here.


On 9-14 September, CEV ESC Trainee, Juanma Báez attended the Erasmus+ KA2 Training Course “Gender mainstreaming in youth associations” organised by AEGEE Europe in Mollina, Spain, during the Council of Europe “University of Youth and Development” where more than 160 young people from all over around the world gathered to learn, cooperate and share knowledge. Read more about the project here and about the UYD here.


CEV MEMBERS NEWS

On 24 September 2018 Joao Teixeira, CEV Board Vice-President from the Portuguese Confederation of Volunteering, participated as a guest speaker in the Round Table ‘Volunteering Culture – A collective mission’, part of the conference ‘Volunteering in the 21st century: Practices and challenges’, promoted by the Holy House of Mercy of Lisbon. Find the programme here.




 


On 20 September, the Spanish Platform of Volunteering organised the “International Congress on Volunteering and Sports: “Valores en Juego” where Juanma Báez, CEV ESC Project and Policy Trainee, was present, together with CEV Board member Vicente Baeza. The congress gathered personalities from the paralympics, the biggest world football clubs’ foundations with local level NGOs and other international sports organisations. Find the programme of the congress here.


The 2018 Volunteer Ireland Awards are now open for nominations and will close at midnight Friday 17th October 2018! The Volunteer Ireland Awards aims to show volunteers how much their dedication means to their communities and the causes they support. The Volunteer Ireland Gala Awards Ceremony for 2018 will take place on Friday 7th December in Dublin. Find more here. #RecognisingKindness


EU NEWS:

The Regulation providing the European Solidarity Corps with a dedicated legal base and own budget has been published in the Official Journal of the EU. Since 5 October 2018, the Regulation enters into force, which makes it possible for a wide array of new projects to start. Read more here or in CEV’s website.


On the 6th of December the European Commission will present the European Digital Skills Awards 2018. The nominees will have the chance to showcase their projects, the winners and four runners up in each category will be invited to exhibit their project at the ICT 2018 conference in Vienna. Submit your project before the 21st of October here.


EU Aid Volunteers newsletter is out. Read testimonies, interviews and event reports related to this European programme that allows trained volunteers  to share their expertise in developing countries. Find the newsletter here.


 


The EESC 2018 Civil Society Prize rewards projects promoting "Identities, European values and cultural heritage in Europe". There is a pool prize of 50.000€ for up to five winners. It recognises the work on projects that foster multi-layered European identities and values including initiatives that promote our cultural wealth and facilitate access to our cultural heritage. The awards ceremony will take place at the EESC plenary session on 13 December 2018.  Find more here.


OTHER NEWS

The report from the EYE2018 (European Youth Event), where CEV’s ESC Trainees participated, featuring the 100 most concrete ideas that the participants came up with was distributed to the Members of the European Parliament. The next step will be the presentation of ideas from these youngsters to the Parliament’s Committees. Find the report available in various languages here or order it on paper here.


Coinciding with 3rd anniversary of the adoption of the UN 2030 Agenda. SDG Watch Europe and a coalition of civil society organisations launched on September 25th the “Manifesto for a Sustainable Europe for its Citizens” with core demands for the new political leadership of the EU and the candidates in the European Elections 2019. Find it and sign the petition here.
 


On 1-7 October the National Volunteer Week in the Republic of Moldova took place, gathering a large amount of organisations and volunteers across the country to promote volunteering and community civic involvement.  Public authorities, public institutions, civil society organizations and initiative groups - in partnership with the media, business, public figures, etc. - conducted several campaigns, trainings and debates among many other activities. Find a whole summary of the activities here.


Another article joins the list of research papers list that aim to demonstrate that volunteering improves mental health and can make you live longer. In this case, the evidence points up to a 20% of mortality rates decrease among volunteers. Read more here.


 


A call for papers on the topic “Weaponized Volunteering: New Configurations Between Civil Society and Armed Organizations” is open for the University of Amsterdam. You can present your submission aiming to tackle the increasing synergies  between “civil society” and armed forces, enabling carriers of weapons and (potential) violence to appear as ‘doing good’ before October 27th. Find more information here.


The conference “Solidarity in challenging times: the role of youth, volunteering and mobility in building an inclusive Europe” organised by Volonteurope and Volunteering Matters in collaboration with the European Solidarity Centre and Allianz Kulturstiftung will take place on 3-4 December 2018 in Gdansk, Poland. Check the website for more information.


Registration for SCULT Fest 2018 is still 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.



 


European Civic Forum and other 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.


CEV is always willing to welcome new members to our network. You can read more information about membership on our website or in our “Why to be a member of the CEV network?” flyer.
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