Policy and campaigns > CEV Manifesto for Volunteering in Europe > CEV Manifesto launch
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The 2006 Manifesto on Volunteering in Europe was launched on 28 March 2006, hosted at the European Parliament by Jo Leinen MEP (Germany, Party of European Socialists). CEV President, Christopher Spence, opened the evening by welcoming more than 100 delegates from 20 European countries representing volunteer organisations, business, media, government at different levels and, of course, volunteers.
Markus Held, CEV Director then outlined the key elements of the Manifesto. Explaining why volunteering matters, he suggested that the sheer number and diversity of volunteers makes volunteering significant at European level . With more than 100 Mio people in Europe engaged in voluntary action - including all age groups, genders, colours, nationalities and social and political backgrounds - it is hard to find a more representative group in Europe.
Furthermore, volunteering matters because of its horizontal nature - the range of areas where it plays a role: it contributes to social cohesion and strengthens solidarity; it is a tool for integration; it fosters active citizenship; is a means of Life Long Learning; it creates economic value; it facilitates networking between stakeholders and creates what we call “social capital”. Last but not least, he reminded the audience, volunteering is FUN. It helps individuals feel good and useful to the society they live in and it can be a life changing experience for the volunteers and those with whom they work .
Markus Held, CEV Director then outlined the key elements of the Manifesto. Explaining why volunteering matters, he suggested that the sheer number and diversity of volunteers makes volunteering significant at European level . With more than 100 Mio people in Europe engaged in voluntary action - including all age groups, genders, colours, nationalities and social and political backgrounds - it is hard to find a more representative group in Europe.
Furthermore, volunteering matters because of its horizontal nature - the range of areas where it plays a role: it contributes to social cohesion and strengthens solidarity; it is a tool for integration; it fosters active citizenship; is a means of Life Long Learning; it creates economic value; it facilitates networking between stakeholders and creates what we call “social capital”. Last but not least, he reminded the audience, volunteering is FUN. It helps individuals feel good and useful to the society they live in and it can be a life changing experience for the volunteers and those with whom they work .
Highlighting some of the 23 actions of the Manifesto, he urged the European institutions to:
- Acknowledge the horizontal nature of volunteering in its different policy areas and to work for a volunteer friendly society
- Stress the obvious link between volunteering and active citizenship, one of the underlying values of the European Union, and to build on what already exists by giving a European dimension to volunteer engagement at local level.
- Encourage Member States to provide statistics about the economic value of volunteering, so that the huge potential of volunteering does not remain invisible.
- Announce a European Year of Active Citizenship through Volunteering, building on the legacy of the International Year in 200, the year of the volunteer in the UK in 2005 and in the Valencian Region in 2006.
Marijke Steenbergen, Executive Director CIVIQ and CEV Vice President, added that the promotion and further development of volunteering needs the joint effort of all stakeholders, including the volunteer sector, the business sector and govenment at all levels.
Responding to the Manifesto, Marian Harkin MEP (Ireland) stressed her commitment to support CEV in its efforts around the Manifesto, stating, "All politics is local,and volunteering is a foremost local action that impacts on peoples lives in a real everyday sense." Celia Moore, IBM Coorporate Community Relations and CSR Europe Vice Chair, spoke enthusiastically of the mutual benefits for companies involved in employer-supported volunteering, and highlighted the contribution of volunteer activity towards achieving the Lisbon goals.
Finally, Risto Raivio, European Commission, DG EAC, warmly welcomed the Manifesto and proposed a real partnership between decision makers at European level and networks such as CEV. He announced that his unit D4 at DG EAC will deal with the horizontal nature of volunteering in European programmes in the field of Education and Culture – a first step in this direction - and emphasised that volunteering would play a crucial role in the Future Action Programme on Active European Citizenship 2007-2013.
The event concluded with a reception where delegates, including many new CEV members from the new Member States, were able to meet and discuss the Manifesto and exchange ideas for further action.
