“If our hopes of building a better and safer world are to become more than wishful thinking, we will need the engagement of volunteers more than ever”, Kofi Annan said. It is in this spirit that 100 million Europeans dedicate their time and expertise to help those in need.
To highlight these efforts and encourage more citizens to join in, the European Commission kicked off the 2011 European Year of Volunteering, with the slogan: “Volunteer! Make a difference!”.
“Volunteering is one of the key dimensions of active citizenship and democracy, putting European values such as solidarity and non-discrimination into action”.
This is the statement of the Decision that formalizes the designation of the year 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering Activities promoting active citizenship. The starting point is the awareness of the importance of volunteering, a mean able to develop democracy as a learning opportunity because involvement in voluntary activities can provide people with new skills and competences that can even improve their employability. The year 2011 will be the tenth anniversary of the 2001 International Year of Volunteers of the United Nations.
The general aim of the European Year is increase the visibility of the voluntary activities in the EU and the opportunities for civil society to participate in. Particularly , the four main objectives proposed by the European Commission are: to create an enabling and facilitating environment for volunteering in the EU; . to empower volunteer organizations and improve the quality of volunteering; to reward and recognise volunteering activities; to raise awareness of the value and importance of volunteering in the society.
The Commission will highlight the link between voluntary engagement at local level and its significance in the wider European context.
To meet these goals, European year supports community, national, regional and local level initiatives, including: exchange of experience and good practices; achievement of studies and researches and promotion of their results;conferences and events of public awareness; concrete initiatives in the Member States to promote the European year objectives.
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