Nov

Let´s celebrate the International Volunteer Day! 0 Reply

By UNGA mandate, the International Volunteer Day (IVD)[1] is celebrated annually on 5 December with the aim of celebrating volunteers and organisations efforts, promote their values and disseminate their work. The focus of the IVD 2018 is “Volunteers build Resilient Communities” in order to celebrate volunteer effort aimed at strengthening local ownership and community resilience. In the framework of the United Nations, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is mandated to support and promote IVD celebrations worldwide. Every year, over 6,500 UN Volunteers serve with UN entities in some of the most challenging environments across the world, and 12,000 UN Online Volunteers complete over 20,000 assignments online through the UNV Online Volunteering service.[2] According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 17 million of volunteers work each year across 189 countries tirelessly to ensure that the most vulnerable people in communities have access to services and support.[3] Volunteering offers vital support to people in need and the community, but benefits can be also greater for the volunteer. There are many types of volunteering: skills-based, in developing countries, virtual, on learning programmes and schools, on environment, in an emergency, corporate and community based.

With the aim of celebrating the International Volunteer Day, Dialogue Café Association and its members in Belgrade, Evora, Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro will organise a session on Volunteering and Community Service with the aim of celebrating volunteer effort and recognising their contribution to communities and the society. With this purpose, projects and volunteers will be invited to participate in this session and share with us their views, motivations and experiences. During the session we will also discover the existing opportunities for volunteering and how beneficial can be also to volunteer. During the discussion some questions will be raised such as How to engage the new generations in long-term volunteering; Education for volunteering, yes or no?; Volunteering is for everyone? The role of Volunteering as an instrument for inclusion; the role of the cultural volunteer as mediator in learning.

Programme

Dialogue Café Évora (Eugênio de Almeida Foundation):

Maria João Tomé, Volunteer, Project REVIVE (Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa);
Anya Pisco, Social Volunteer at Eugenio de Almeida Foundation and other projects
Dulce Ferreira, International Volunteer Project (financ Grundtvig) in Hungary and Portugal;
Eden Oliveira, Cultural Volunteer at Eugenio de Almeida Foundation

Dialogue Café Wroclaw (Mediateka)

Tomasz Grabiński, Mediateka‘s coordinator for DC projects
Martyna Gontarz, Wrocław Municipal Library’s coordinator for foreign volunteers
Johanna Cruz, Volunteer from Equador working in Mediateka

Dialogue Café Lisboa (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation):