Welcome to the fifth European Forum of Voluntary Work !
More than 14 million volunteers in France and nearly 150 millions in Europe work today in the volunteering field.
Giving time, being helpful, committing oneself… so many aspects that make voluntary work a noble cause,
a strength at the national level and a real necessity at the local level.
Because giving one’s time and skills without financial counterpart is far from being the norm in our world, the «Fédération Française du Bénévolat et de la Vie Associative» (FFBA) decided to celebrate in a very special way the International Volunteer Day decreed by the UNO on December 2nd by organizing for the second consecutive year the European Forum of Voluntary work at the European Parliament of Strasbourg.
2011 has been declared European Year of Volunteering by the European Parliament.
We place the Volunteer Forum in the context of this celebration of Europe.
Based on the results obtained in previous editions, we find that there are
large disparities in legal and social practice of volunteering in Europe.
From the participating countries, we also found a strong desire to create a permanent place for exchange and reflection among European heads of associations, especially for small and medium sized structures that are not always represented in various forums.
Thus, the 5th Forum will be an opportunity to ask specific questions to elected bodies, but also to inform the largest number what are the broad guidelines that should drive to unify the practice and create associative volunteer involvement in the European Union.
This forum is open to the guests of the various European countries, to local elected representatives, to leaders of associations and to networks which will thus benefit from exchanges and thoughts on these strategic themes which are determining for the future of our countries.
Paul MUMBACH
President of the FFBA, France