Global Dialogue: A call to action for the future of volunteering

Global Dialogue: A call to action for the future of volunteering

The aim of this workshop is to facilitate discussion around key messages and actions that need to be in place to recognize, enable and finance volunteering. The key issues we want to explore are what changes are required to support volunteering and increase volunteering’s impact; and who is responsible for making this change happen. Insights from these workshops will be used to inform a Global Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering to be developed later this year and launched as part of the 2026 International Volunteer Year (IVY 2026).

This will be an interactive workshop focused on one key question - considering the realities in your own context, what needs to change to better recognize and support volunteering and who has responsibility for making this change happen?

Ireland has a strong and unique culture of volunteering so it's critical our input is reflected on the global agenda. This workshop is open to anyone with an interest in the future of volunteering.

Your input is crucial and we need as many voices as possible, through the Global Survey and the Global Dialogues, to help shape the Global Call to Action and give it authority.

Further information

In December 2023, the UN General Assembly declared 2026 the International Year for Volunteers for Sustainable Development, or ‘IVY 2026.’

Following the declaration of the International Year, a Scoping Group led by IAVE was formed in early 2024 comprising four global leading organizations in the volunteer space: the International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE), the International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and UNICEF Generation Unlimited. This group now also includes the Volunteer Groups Alliance (VGA) and intends to further expand as appropriate and as the initiative develops. The group is also working in alignment with the United Nations Volunteers Program (UNV) with regard to IVY 2026.

The scoping group has identified IVY 2026 as an opportunity to focus attention on the power and potential of volunteering, to deliver greater investment in volunteering, to secure commitments from governments and others on how they will support volunteering and the enabling environment in which volunteering will flourish.