FEATURE ARTICLE 2

What, If Any, Impact Will 'EYV 2011' Have On VolunTourism?

by David Clemmons

It was nearly a decade ago (2001), when the United Nations declared its 'International Year of the Volunteer' (IYV). In 2011, the Council of the European Union will be celebrating the ten-year anniversary of IYV with a year of its own - the European Year of Volunteering (EYV). With 27 countries participating and 8 million euros available for such things as promotion and educational materials to increase awareness of volunteering locally and globally, what, if any impact will 'EYV 2011' have on VolunTourism?

Introduction To 'Volunteering In The European Union'

17 February 2010 marked the release of a 326-page report on Volunteering In The European Union. Even a cursory glance of the Executive Summary, proves helpful for those who are seeking a clearer understanding of the 'Volunteering landscape in the EU.' Here is the first paragraph from this section of the report:

"An analysis of the national surveys and reports on volunteering identified by key stakeholders in the Member States indicates that, there are around 92 to 94 million adults involved in volunteering in the EU. This in turn implies that around 22% to 23% of Europeans aged over 15 years are engaged in voluntary work. The national surveys tend to show lower levels of volunteering in comparison to some of the key European international surveys."

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To put this somewhat into perspective, here are numbers with percentages for volunteering in:

• Australia (2006) 5.2 million people or 34% volunteered
• Canada (2007) it is estimated that 12.5 million people volunteered or 46%
• New Zealand (April 2008 - March 2009) estimates that roughly one-third of its population volunteered
• United States (September 2008 and September 2009) approximately 63 million people volunteered or 26.8%

One of the primary reasons for conducting the statistical reviews and data collection that went into compiling the Volunteering In The European Union report was to generate a series of recommendations to support the development of the European Year of the Volunteer - EYV - 2011. The section marked 'Recommendations' starts by focusing on 'Promoting legal and policy frameworks to support volunteering':

"A comparative study [Comparative Analysis of the European Legal Systems and Practices Regarding Volunteering] carried out by the European Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL) suggests that countries should, where necessary, revise laws or enact separate legislation in order to promote volunteerism, protect volunteers, and remove legal impediments. The EU could consider promoting guidelines for countries who wish to adopt legislation, treating aspects such as:

• How volunteering could be distinguished from other types of legally recognised or regulated relationships. The key issue here is that the role of volunteers should be to complement the work of paid staff, or add value, and not replace paid staff;
• How volunteers could be entitled to reimbursement of expenses;
• How volunteers could be protected while they are performing voluntary activity (e.g. insurance coverage);
• How to prevent volunteering having a negative effect on entitlement to unemployment and other social benefits;
• How additional support schemes (e.g. validation of experience) could be provided to volunteers; and
• How international volunteering could be facilitated."

I will point out that each of these items, in my opinion, is relevant to voluntourism. However, item #2, #3, #5, and #6 seem most relevant. And when we think of item #6 in the context of the 27 EU Member States that are participating in EYV 2011 (see EYV 2011 National Coordinating Bodies insert left) volunteering internationally does not necessarily mean doing so in a 'developing' country.

Finally, also under the heading of 'Recommendations,' comes 'Networking to promote volunteering: encouraging research and exchange of good practices':

"The European Year 2011 will be an excellent opportunity to put volunteering on the agenda of Member States, raise awareness about volunteering, and promote exchange of good practices. There is a strong demand for sharing experience and identifying regulatory and policy frameworks that really work. The EU has a role to play in enhancing recognition, and encouraging Member States to avoid legislative barriers to volunteering..."

What Do We Know About EYV 2011 And What Is The VolunTourism Community Consensus On It?

On 27 November 2009, the Council of the European Union established 2011 as the 'European Year of Voluntary Activities Promoting Active Citizenship.' The European Commission has set up a section within its website entitled European Year of Volunteering 2011 that features numerous links for those who wish to take a closer look.

I conducted a straw poll with some of my European contacts to ask the very question posed as the title of this article: "What, if any, impact will the European Year of the Volunteer (EYV 2011) have on voluntourism?"

The first thing that I discovered from the responses was that EYV 2011 was virtually unheard of in the VolunTourism Community. This did not surprise me, of course, as the announcement had occurred just prior to the end-of-year holidays and the logo for the initiative, to my knowledge, is still not completed. Therefore, unless you spend the bulk of your time focusing on solely on volunteering, this would be 'news' to you.

However, I did appreciate the responses I received and would like to share some of them with you:

"Any initiative that raises the awareness of the benefits and responsibilities involved in volunteering should be welcomed. I believe that this initiative is designed to harness the resources of local volunteers within their own communities rather than encouraging the voluntourist as such.

I hope some of the healthy 8 million euro budget is spent identifying and sharing good practice. Whether recruitiong volunteers to work within their own community or to travel to volunteer, preparation, screening and the informed consent of those the volunteers are seeking to serve are essential" Sallie Grayson, Founder and Programme Director, People and Places

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"In my opinion the one most important impact of EYV 2011 will be that it will be the catalyst to raise societal 'awareness of the value and importance of volunteering.' 8m Euros will be made available for activities 'such as conferences, seminars, exchange of experience and publications.' 

Based on these initiatives it will become attractive to do research on the different kinds of volunteering and their impacts on society - good or bad. This in turn will help to understand the forces behind it and will open up opportunities for more volunteering activities on various levels - one of them being voluntourism. 

It will also improve the quality of volunteering programs and eventually quality standards and certifications for organizations could be created. Voluntourism programs would be affected by this as well. All these developments will probably take years. Volunteering is nothing new in the various European Countries. However, I believe that it is necessary to have a catalyst available that speeds up the development from an unorganized occurrence to an organized industry." Marion Serwe, Founder & CEO, Imagine No Limits

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"The impact of these things often depends on promotion and if systems are in place to support the volunteering." Anna Mdee, PhD, Senior Lecturer and Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching in the School of Social and International Studies at the University of Bradford and Co-founder of Village-to-Village.

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"The idea that people can enrich their travel experiences by having meaningful interaction with local people through the medium of volunteering, with the added benefits of actually making a difference in peoples' lives, is still relatively new, especially the concept of combining this with sightseeing.

As such, the European Year of the Volunteer can only be positive, as it helps raise awareness of how volunteering is such a 'win win' concept, which can only spill over into people deciding to include a volunteering component in their trips." Christopher Hill, Founder & CEO, Hands Up Holidays

As you can see from these remarks, the overall consensus is that EYV 2011 will have a positive impact on voluntourism.

Additional Thoughts On EYV 2011

What sector could be better poised to take full advantage of EYV 2011 than hospitality & tourism? Employee involvement seems to be the first, most logical step. Utilizing EYV 2011 as a backdrop to increase social responsibility and civic engagement in the communities in which tour operators, hoteliers, airlines, and transport companies conduct business has an appeal that travels well beyond the executive suite. In turn, once these relationships are more solidified through ongoing contributions by executives and staff alike, it becomes infinitely easier to facilitate the inclusion of visitors and guests - be they leisure or business travelers.

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It seems a foregone conclusion that the Council of the European Union would look favorably upon any implementation strategies in which the use of leveraged funds and cross-sector partnerships play an instrumental role. Such initiatives could certainly serve to expand awareness of EYV 2011 and broaden the reach to a substantial population within the EU. Clearly, any partnerships established between the Third Sector and the Hospitality & Tourism Sector in response to the call of EYV 2011 would fulfill such goals & objectives.

As Ms. Grayson and Ms. Serwe point out, the opportunity to build on good practices and increase the research on, and subsequent understanding of, voluntourism could also be appealing, given some of the language of the Council this seems reasonable.

At the end of the day, we know the only way EYV 2011 will have any long-term impact on voluntourism will be based upon how members of the VolunTourism Community and those within the Third Sector and Hospitality & Tourism Sector respond to this opportunity. Seeing it as an opportunity is the first step; will it lead to action? commitment? engagement? The clock is ticking...

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