EESC organiseert conferentie over vrijwilligerswerk (en)

Met dank overgenomen van Europees Economisch en Sociaal Comité (EESC) i, gepubliceerd op vrijdag 9 september 2011.

In a bid to raise awareness of the economic value of volunteering and promote it as a way of achieving a Europe of solidarity the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) - the EU advisory body representing European civil society - will hold a high-level conference in the Presidential Palace in Warsaw on 30 September. Hosted by Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski and organised by the EESC's Various Interests' Group presided over by Luca Jahier, the conference will feature a number of prominent speakers.

The full-day event, marking the European Year of Volunteering, will start at 9 a.m. It will bring together 250 representatives of civil society and voluntary organisations from the EU, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldavia and Ukraine. Speakers will include Bronislaw Komorowski, President of Poland, Staffan Nilsson, EESC president, László Andor i, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, and Jolanta Fedak, Polish Minister for Labour and Social Policy, to name but a few.

Participants will address the challenging issue of improving the voluntary sector's effectiveness and raising awareness of its socio-economic impact. Starting off with a speech by Lester Salomon, a leading expert on volunteering from the Johns Hopkins University in Maryland (US), discussions will be divided into three sub-themes: putting volunteering on the global economic map, challenges and possibilities for volunteering in Europe, and effective cooperation for volunteering in Europe and the Eastern Partnership countries.

The detailed programme for the event is available at http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.events-and-activities-volunteering-warsaw.

The event is organised by the EESC's Various Interests Group, which represents a wide range of national voluntary organisations at EU level, in collaboration with the Polish Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, the Chancellery of the President of the Republic of Poland and the European Commission. Back in 2006 the EESC, a relentless champion of volunteering, was the first EU body to put forward the idea of having a European year dedicated to it. The Committee has also established a Coordinating Group on the European Year of Volunteering 2011, co-organised hearings with the European Voluntary Alliance 2011 and is co-hosting the 2011 Youth Convention on Volunteering (Brussels, 7-10 September).