100 organisations participated on 21 January 2018 at the launch of the European Volunteering Capital 2018 in Aarhus, Denmark. HKH The Crown Princess opened the ceremony at Aarhus City Hall and mayor Jacob Bundsgaard welcomed the attendees who had taken took the opportunity to share about their volunteer programmes and to learn from their peers. CEV was represented by Gabriella Civico, CEV Director who congratulated the municipality and thanked the volunteers for their contribution to the community spirit in Aarhus. Updates about #EVCapital 2018 will be available on the new website here and here. The start of Aarhus’ Year as European Volunteering Capital 2018 was also marked in Ringkøbing-Skjern, the second #EVCapital 2018 candidate city that will also be part of the 2018 events and activities. See photos from all the opening events here.
CEV ACTIVITIES:
During the afternoon volunteering fair involving almost 100 volunteer organisations and attended by more than 1,000 volunteers and future volunteers from Aarhus that was held as part of the #EVCapital2018 opening celebrations, CEV Director Gabriella Civico spoke about why Aarhus was the winning municipality and what are the reasons that motivate people to volunteer. Watch the interview conducted by two European Solidarity Corps members for the Danish news here.
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: EUROPEAN VOLUNTEERING CAPITAL 2020 CEV launches the seventh edition of the European Volunteer Capital competition #EVCapital2020. The award is chosen from the applicant municipalities by an international jury of experts who assess the extent to which the recommendations as listed in PAVE and the “5R” policy priorities as identified in the PAVE 5 year review “Helping Hands”, are shown to be implemented. How the European Solidarity Corps will be supported and promoted is also part of the criteria. The European Volunteering Capital Competition aims to promote volunteering at the local level by giving recognition to municipalities that support and strengthen partnerships with volunteer centres and volunteer-involving organisations and celebrate and promote volunteering and the impact made by volunteers. Deadline: 29 June 2018. Find the ONLINE application formand more information here.
The CEV Capacity Building Conference: Volunteering in Culture will take place on the 19-20 April 2018 in Rijeka Croatia. The main objective of this conference is to identify what are the specificities of volunteering in culture, where the beneficiaries of the activities are not as visible as in other kinds of volunteering eg in social service provision or youth work. It will also consider how these cultural projects promote intercultural dialogue, human rights, solidarity and social values. Participants will learn how the well-being of volunteers in culture can be protected and how the question of their skills development and validation of competencies gained can be best approached. Accommodation, travel suggestions and to register here.
On February 6 2018 CEV attended the workshop on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) organised by Associations 21 in collaboration with CNCD-11.11.11.. The focus has been how to raise awareness and to develop practices for SDGs "for all, by all", where no one is left behind. You can find more information here.
On 29 January 2018, the Portuguese association for corporate volunteering, GRACE in collaboration with Vieira de Almeida & Associados, launched the Corporate Volunteer Award “Elza Chambel”. The award, in addition to honouring Elza Chambel, aims to give visibility and promote the public recognition of corporate volunteering developed by companies, raising awareness on the importance of volunteering as a form of active citizenship. CEV Director Gabriella Civico and CEV Board Vice President João Teixeira gave their contribution with an introductory speech and a discussion during the launch ceremony. You can find more information here.
On 25 January 2018 CEV attended the First European Education Summit in Brussels, organised by the European Commission with the aim of reflecting about the present condition of education in Europe and find ways for better, cooperation in and promotion of lifelong learning. More information about the Summit is available here.
On 24 January 2018, CEV attended the conference “EU funds: How can we better support people with migrant background?” at the EESC, where the toolkit on the use of EU fund for the integration of people with migrant background was introduced. You can find the toolkit here.
On 23 January 2018 CEV participated at the 15th Silver Rose Awards Ceremony at the European Parliament organised by SOLIDAR where the six selected awardees in the categories: Together for Social Europe; Building Learning Societies; Organising International Solidarity; Lifetime Achievement Award; Special award by the Jury, were presented. You can find the pictures here.
CEV Project and Policy trainee Giulia Bordin joined the Erasmus + Coalition World Cafe’ as moderator, on 22 January 2018 in Brussels. It has been an occasion to share ideas and put in place proposals about what can be achieved with a possible #Erasmusx10 budget.
On 18 -19 January 2018, CEV took part in the 3rd Partners’ Meeting of the ErasmusPlus project InScult in Tallinn (Estonia). It was the occasion to share the developments and goals of volunteering in sport achieved in the first year of the project and to plan future steps and events. You can find more information about the project here. One of the activities developed during the first year of the project was the Scult Festival 2017 that took place place in Tallinn on November 2017, the goal was to celebrate and promote volunteering in sport. Pictures and video are now available here.
CEV joined the Strategic Dialogue Meeting on the "Annual Convention for Inclusive Growth (ACIG) 2018" organised by the European Commission. An occasion to exchange ideas about the agenda of the ACIG 208 which will focus on development and state of the art of the European Pillar of Social Rights.
The Righteous among the Nations: The Holocaust Remembrance Dayis the occasion to honour also those people that, on voluntary basis, decide to risk their lives for the major principle of preserving human dignity by helping others. After WWII they were recognised as Righteous among the Nations. The majority of them died before the end of the war because they were considered traitors. We remember them as candles of solidarity in one of the darkest period of the European history.
On 24 January CEV attended the Holocaust Remembrance Day 2018, organised with support from the Europe for Citizens programme. At the event three witnesses of the tragedy of the Holocaust shared their stories, underlining that, despite the cruelty they had to live, they witnessed also the power of humankind and solidarity. You can find more information here. The remembrance day was also the occasion for the inauguration of the exhibition “Between Life and Death” at the European Commission Charlemagne Building, honouring the memory of the Righteous among the Nations. You can find more information about the exhibition here.
CEV congratulates new elected members of the Conference of INGO at the Council of Europe: President Anna Rurka (EUROCEF); Vice-Presidents Robert Bergougnan (EASSW), Anne Kraus (CISVInternational), Christoph Spreng (IofC International), Anne Negre (UWE); and Rapporteurs Rares-Augustin Craiut (ECYC), Richard Pirolt (Comenius Association), Katarzyna Sokolowska (AEGEE Europe). The Conference of INGOs (international non-governmental organisations) is the body representing civil society in the Council of Europe and is one of the four pillars of the Council of Europe, together with the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Congress of Local and Regional Congress.
CEV MEMBERS NEWS: NEW member: CEV welcomes the World Organisation of the Scout Movement in Europe (WOSM) as CEV full member! The European Scout Region of the World Organization of the Scout Movement gather 70 Scouts Associations in 40 Countries, delivering Scouting to close to 1,8 Millions, thanks to the engagement of more than 300 000 volunteers. The Mission of Scouting is to contribute to the education of young people, to help build a better world where people are self-fulfilled as individuals and play a constructive role in society. Being a volunteers-led organisation, the European Scout region and its members are strongly engaged to support a better volunteering policy environment in Europe. You can find more information here.
At the conference of Bavarian volunteer centres held in the 2019 European Volunteering Capital candidate city, Augsburg, on 30-31 January CEV member organisations including FRISE, based in the 2018 European Volunteering Capital Aarhus, and Croatian Centre for Volunteer Development presented their models for volunteering infrastructure.
LinkedIn for Good/Tous bénévoles, a partnership to develop volunteering in France. Tous Bénévoles is happy to announce its new collaboration with LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is aiming to encourage members to become volunteers directly via its platform. For the 800,000 French LinkedIn members who are interested in such actions, volunteering comes directly to them through this partnership, granting them access to serious, validated missions that match with their skills and professional experiences. For Tous Bénévoles’ member organizations, this partnership offers new opportunities to reach highly qualified volunteers. It is a first quality tool because it is geared to a network of mostly active people, that weren’t targeted before. This is a first on such a scale in France.
EU NEWS: Save the date! The Civil Society Days 2018 will take place on 24-25 May 2018, focusing on “Citizenship, Democracy & Culture in a digitalized Europe”. Follow the next updates and do not miss the chance to take part to one of the hugest Civil Society event of the year!
On 20 - 24 November 2017 the Second European Vocational Skills Week took place across Europe. Almost one million people in 45 different countries were involved. n Brussels, one thousand people participated in 1585 events and activities. You can find a thank you video from the European Commission here. The EVSW 2018 will take place on 5-9 November in Vienna (Austria).
Anew EEA grant on cross border and transnational cooperation was launched on 24 January 2018 at Norway House the deadline is 1 July 2018. The €34.5 million Fund supports cooperation in the form of knowledge sharing, exchange of good practice and capacity building across the priority sectors of the EEA and Norway Grants 2014-2021. Read more here...
The European Commission launched the a new call for proposals within the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) on the “Integration of Third-Country Nationals”. Project applications must address one of the three priorities: raising awareness on migrants' contribution to EU societies; community building at local level for integration including through volunteering activities; pre-departure and post-arrival support for the integration of persons in need of international protection who are being resettled from a third country including through volunteering activities. Deadline for submitting applications: 1 March 2018. Read more here.
On 19 January 2018, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published its ‘Challenges facing civil society organisations working on human rights in the EU’ report launched at the EESC event in Brussels “Civil Society Space in the EU”. Given the vital role civil society plays in upholding democratic processes and in promoting human rights, the report calls on decision makers need to ensure that the important work of civil society is not undermined through policy and legal changes and funding cuts. Read more here.
On 18 January 2018, the European Civic Forum, motivated by the multiple actors engaged in monitoring and protecting a democratic civic space in Europe, launched Civic Space Watch, a collaborative tool to share resources and create a new, fast-responding alert system for active citizens, NGOs, journalists, researchers, whistleblowers, but also decision-makers on issues linked to civic space. You can find more information about Civic Space Watch here.
The European Youth Forum has been selected for a partnership with UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, to support refugee youth protection and integration efforts in Europe through a European Youth Initiative Fund (EYIF).The aim of the project is to mobilise young people, promote integration and build positive relationships between displaced youth and host communities in Europe. The European Youth Forum will provide grants to youth organisations so that they implement projects run with the meaningful involvement of young refugees and asylum-seekers and in cooperation with host communities. Read the Call for Project Proposals here.
