The #EVCapital 2022 Gdańsk has been able to quickly put in place support and coordination due to the existing strong cross sector partnerships and collaborative approach. In the past month, many coordination, welcoming points and shelters were established in order to support and host refugees. The latest inaugurated one contains living rooms, full social facilities, a children's playroom, learning space and laundry room, with capacity for 200 people. A website, setup specifically for this emergency situation, is also available here.
Padova EVCapital 2020
Has released an interview with Monika Chabior, Deputy Mayor of the City of Gdansk, Poland, EVCapital2022, where she greets and thanks volunteers and volunteering organisations from Padova who, with their commitment during the pandemic, have been a source of inspiration for all volunteers, especially volunteers from Gdansk and throughout Poland, who are today engaged in the front line for the reception of Ukrainian refugees. Find the interview here.
The Call for Candidates for the EV Capital 2024 is open!
The deadline is 3 June 2022 for candidate Municipalities. Find out more about the competition in this short video and on ourwebsite. Click here for the Call and application form.
Register now for the #BEV2030 Webinars
Join the next INEAR (Inclusion, Equality and Rights in Volunteering) webinar on 27th April where we will hear from the authors of “Inequality in Volunteering: Building a New Research Front'' article, Paul Rameder and Itamar Shachar. The first webinar took place on 31 March focusing on Independent and inclusive engagement with keynote presentations from Monika Popow (Gdansk EVCapital 2022) and Walther Friedemann (Berlin EVCapital 2021).The next webinars will take place at 14:00 - 17:00 CET 27 April New volunteers and methods; 30 May Empowerment; 22 June Appreciation of contribution; 4 July Resources for more Value. More details and registration here.
Save the Date for the Gdansk Event in October
On 3 and 4 October in Gdansk (Poland) the CEV Autumn Volunteering Congress 2022 will take place, comprising the CEV General Assembly, Study Visit for CEV Members and partners and members of the European Volunteering Capital Candidates Community (EVCCC), EV Capital 2024 candidates presentations and Seminar. Save the dates and stay tuned for more here.
CEV Welcomes new team members
Fernando Chironda as Capacity Building and Outreach Officer and Aquiles Modinos as an Erasmus plus trainee joined CEV this month. Find more about the CEV staff here.
#CSOCOFOE final event
The Final Recommendation output of the thematic clusters to the Conference on the Future of Europe (COFOE) made by the Convention were presented! Find here the video recording of day one and day two.
CoFEU Plenary Strasbourg
On 26 March, representatives of the Civil Society Convention on the #FutureOfEurope took part in day 2 of the 5th #CoFoE Plenary Session in Strasbourg, representing more than 82 pan-European networks and platforms that make up this Convention. Find more about the Convention here.
“State of the Union Citizens’ Rights 2022: Reinventing EU Citizenship post COVID-19’’
On 29 March, CEV joined the ECAS “State of the Union Citizens’ Rights 2022: Reinventing EU Citizenship post COVID-19” event that took an in-depth look at the obstacles facing mobile EU citizens due to both the COVID-19 pandemic and the complicated Brexit process. It also explored visions on how to reinvent and enrich EU citizenship in the coming years, aiming to become fairer, more inclusive and crisis-resistant. Piotr Sadowski, Volonteurope, presented the 3 recommendations (on Freedom of Movement; Europe in the world; Migration) of the cluster “Our European Life” of the CSOCoFoE, which CEV and Volonteurope co-chaired. : “The ability of civil society and active citizens to come together, to bring forward recommendations that engage European policymakers at local, national, and European level was the basis for the recommendations”. Find more about the event here.
Thematic debate on the war in Ukraine
On 23 March, CEV participated in the EESC thematic debate which addressed the current humanitarian situation in Ukraine, the challenges faced by civil society organisations (CSOs) in the neighbouring countries, as well as the response of the European Commission. Find more here.
The role of CSOs as guardians of the common good in the post-pandemic recovery
On 28 March, CEV joined the EESC event aiming to gather input from policy makers, civil society organisations and social partners which will feed into the EESC's opinion, particularly relating to how civil society organisations are involved, in practice, in the recovery and reconstruction process at both the EU and Member State level. Find more here.
Let’s Face it! Training
From 27 till 31 March, Giulia Bordin, CEV Policy and Communication officer, took part in the Mentoring Under Construction (MuC) Seminar in Bucharest, a process of exploration and community building in the landscape of mentoring within the European Solidarity Corps. Find more about the seminar here and join the MuC community here.
Conference of INGOs
On 5 and 6 April, CEV took part in the hybrid General Assembly of the Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe chaired by the president Gerhard Ermischer. During this session, members heard from experts on the current situation of civil society organisations in Ukraine , human rights defenders and refugees fleeing the country. They also discussed and voted on the work the Conference has done so far and future steps. More information here.
Volpris Website
You can now register to the Volpris website and try the recently created “Training Course for volunteering managers in the prison context”. Find the training here and more information about the project here.
eQyvol Award
The partners of the eQyvol project are proud to be organising the first European Youth Volunteering Award. Organisations from the Erasmus+ Programme Countries who are involved in the coordination or management of youth volunteering projects and/or activities, can participate in the award by completing this application and returning it by the 15 th May 2022 to: award@eqyvol.eu. Find the form here.
Upval Partners Meeting
On 24 March the Upgrading Validation (UpVal) Erasmus+ project partnership met online to discuss the current status of the tasks and discussed the next steps in preparing the multiplier events. Learn more about the project and its outcomes here.
CTV Multiplier Events in Belgium
On 15 and 26 March, CEV hosted two events in Brussels to share the results of the Erasmus + Complex Toolbox for Volunteers project. The 15 March event saw 15 participants from local Belgian organisations exploring the CTV e-course and e-database in depth, through a world cafe’ session. On 26 March, as part of the 24hour cycling event in Brussels involving over 10,000 Scouts and Guides, CEV presented the CTV tools to over 70 Scouts and Guides. Find more about the project here.
European Year of Volunteers 2025
Add your support now to declare 2025 the European Year of Volunteers. Only 500 endorsements are needed to make this idea top of the group! Success would be a fitting tribute to the efforts and impact of volunteers during the COVID19 and Ukraine refugee crisis. The EY 2025 will shine the spotlight on the essential collective actions of volunteers leading to increased health and well being in Europe and provide a suitable framework to better celebrate and reinforce positive recognition of volunteers in Europe. Connect on the #COFOE platform and endorse this idea here. Find the video instructions here.
CSV Padova and Rovigo
On 8 April 2022 in Padova, the Centre hosted the 16th Gattamelata prize ceremony, an award created to celebrate those who engage in solidarity actions. Since the establishment of the Gattamelata Award, the CSV has had the opportunity to award more than 70 subjects among volunteers, associations, companies and institutions of the provincial and national territory. Giulia Bordin, Project and Communication Officer, attended the event and presented the work of CEV. Find more about the award here.
CSV Sardegna Solidale
Volunteers from its member organisation, Prociv Italia are in Przemyśl (PL) to assist those refugees that want to reach Italy in order to facilitate their journey and arrival. The hub where they operate has been entrusted by the Italian National Civil Protection Department. They also recently received a visit from the Minister for European Affairs, Vincenzo Amendola, and the Ambassador of Italy to Poland, Aldo Amati, who congratulated them for their activities and passion. Find more here.
SEEYN
For two years, together with Beyond Barriers - Pertej Barrierave and many other OJF organisations and networks, SEEYN has been engaged in discussions with organisations and institutions, and in a process for analysing the legal framework of volunteering in Albania and its implementation. Find here the Open Letters and the Legal Opinion. This work has established an important working group between civil society institutions and organisations.
Slovenska Filantropija
On 9 April, the 13th All-Slovenia volunteer campaign Day for Change entitled “Let's Co-Create the Community”, took place. To facilitate participation a handbook is available for the implementation of actions and other instructions available here.
Slovakia Platform of Volunteer Centres and Organisations
On 23-24 March, the Erasmus+ Eduvol project conference took place in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, aiming to promote service-learning in formal and non-formal education and increase awareness about the role of service-learning concerning the development of the young generation of leaders of change. The conference targeted teachers, youth workers, students, and community partners interested in service-learning and presented outputs and results of the international project EDUVOL. Find more about the project here.
Vlaams Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk
Published an article confirming that vaccination volunteers and crisis volunteers in healthcare in Belgium are eligible for the increased fixed cost reimbursement, a maximum of € 2705.97 for 2022, announced by means of a Royal Decree. Find the article here.
EU Skills Profile Tool in Ukrainian
The Ukrainian version of the EU Skills Profile Tool for Third Country Nationals is being released. The new language version will make it easier for displaced people from Ukraine to set out their skills and connect with jobs and other opportunities matching those skills. A better understanding of the skills people bring and the needs they have can also help EU countries and the organisations assisting people adapt their services. More information on how the Tool is used can be found here.
Inauguration of the Ukrainian civil society hub
On 16 March the EP President Roberta Metsola gave the keys to the Station Europe building in Brussels to the Ukrainian civil society organisation Promote Ukraine. The space will be used to coordinate Ukrainian civil society action (organising demonstrations, press conferences, etc.) and to provide psychological and administrative support to refugees from Ukraine now arriving in Belgium (job seeking, registering at municipal offices). Find more here.
Mentoring in ESC
The European Solidarity Corps SALTO Resource Centre has created a webpage in its website dedicated to mentoring in the programme. You can find it here.
ESC SALTO Podcast
The “Europe Talks Solidarity” podcast, developed by the SALTO European Solidarity Corps is now available. This podcast series explores the concept of solidarity by travelling through Europe and beyond in search of a common narrative inspired by youth work and academic perspectives. Find the podcast here.
Here you can check the Liaison Group Newsletter for March 2022.
EESC CSOs Consultation
On 21 April 2022, on the occasion of the meeting of the EESC Immigration and Integration Group (IMI), the EESC will host a virtual meeting at 10:00 where the results of the Consultation of the CSOs on the topic of the European Migration Forum will be presented and discussed. Register to the virtual meeting here by 19 April 2022.
Learning Playground in Volunteering
Hosts, organisers and mentors in ESC volunteering projects are invited to discover spatial aspects of learning environments, playing with (co)creating empowering learning spaces and exploring their potential in fostering learning at this SALTO training course that will take place on 30 May - 4 June 2022 in Budapest, Hungary. Register here by 19 April 2022.
Training of Multipliers on volunteers' management
The GloRe Network organises this training within the SALTO opportunities on 13-19 May 2022 in Genova, Italy. This Training of Multipliers has been envisioned to build the capacity of staff members of Civil Society Organisations on the management and assessment of volunteers, on the use of the GloRe certification system, and on project cycle management and fundraising. Register here by 18 April 2022.
“Let’s Talk Volunteering” Webinar
On 28 April, IAVE organises the “Let’s Talk Volunteering: Exploring Future Issues & Trends Focused on Research from Europe” webinar part of the “Let’s Talk Volunteering”, a 3-part webinar series Gabriella Civico, CEV Director, will take the floor presenting the Blueprint for European Volunteering 2030. Find more information and register here.
UNV Online Toolkit
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has developed an interactive online toolkit for promoting gender equality through volunteering in national policies and frameworks. Find more here.
Study of the Conference of INGOs
The Expert Council on NGO Law of the Conference of INGOs published a Study on the Execution of Judgments Involving Freedom of Association. The study considers the extent to which the execution of judgments aligns with the standards related to the treatment of NGOs applicable to Council of Europe Member States. Find the study here.
Vacancy at Action Reconciliation Service for Peace (ASF) & NEVSO
The organisation has opened a vacancy for the role of State Representative for Voluntary Work and EU Networking in Belgium. The working language is German and the position is expected to be temporary until March 15 2023 as a replacement for parental leave. Please send your application in one PDF to Claudia Stüwe by April 28 2022: stuewe@asf-ev.de. Find more here.
For other European Volunteering and Civil Society related matters check out and subscribe to other newsletters 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.
