AGE was represented by its Vice-President Louise Richardson and two of its Employment Expert Group members in the European Commission closing conference of the European Year of Volunteering 2011 held in Warsaw from 1- 2 December. This conference was proceded by an event organised by the EYV 2011 Alliance on 30 November to share experiences of the EYV2011 and its impact as seen so far, as well as to plan the way forward for the policy document developed by the Alliance (link to follow).
Both events brought together different stakeholders including European officials, national authorities, NGOs and volunteers to discuss policy development and how to ensure continuity of actions in the area of volunteering at all levels in order to guarantee a meaningful legacy for the European Year of Volunteering in the years to come.
Ms Richardson, AGE Vice-President, participated as speaker in a panel discussion on ‘Volunteering in the forthcoming European Years’ in which she spoke about the work AGE is doing to demonstrate the synergies between the EYV2011 and EY2012 and the opportunities their will be during the later to build on the achievements made for older volunteers during the current European Year of Volunteering.
To mark this occasion of the Commission’s Closing Conference under the Polish Presidency, the Alliance’s Policy Agenda on Volunteering in Europe (P.A.V.E.) was presented. The document reflects the positions and proposals of 100 European experts from Alliance member organisations who participated in working groups during 2011 and provides recommendations to support volunteers and organisations involving volunteers. AGE Employment Experts Nicole Legrain (France) and Elke Tipplemann (Germany) have been very engaged in this process which calls for a partnership approach towards an enabling and recognised environment for volunteering in the EU.
For more details, please contact Rachel Buchanan, Policy Officer for Employment and Non-Discrimination, at rachel.buchanan@age-platform.eu.
