Employment and social affairs (News - Headlines)
MEPs call for new voluntary ethos Article - Vocational training - 15-05-2008 - 14:10Berlin, 99-year-old Elli Heinrich voluntarily sorts books at an Oxfam shopMore than 100 million Europeans are currently engaged in voluntary activities. Even if volunteering is done for free, it is a surprisingly significant economic factor in our society - the voluntary sector accounts for between 3-5% of GDP. MEPs want the EU to benefit more from this sector and boost its potential. On 22 April parliament approved a report designed to recognise and support volunteers in all relevant EU programmes and polices. Read more...As Europe ages - how can we tackle its demographic decline?Focus - Social policy - 06-02-2008 - 12:09
Volunteering may be a great way of keeping active and supporting the county's GDP but it won't do anything for an individual's struggle to stay out of poverty.
But that is an aside really - the TUC has long been calling for a Community Day bank holiday to encourage people to become volunteers and to recognise and celebrate the contribution of those who already volunteer. Since the trade union sector arguably comprises the largest proportion of all volunteers in the UK (in the way of workplace reps etc), it would be great to have better recognition of the importance of volunteering. Ad astra per aspera
MEPs call for new voluntary ethos
The report, prepared by Irish Liberal Marian Harkin, is called "The role of volunteering in contributing to economic and social cohesion" and suggests the following: EU members, regional and local authorities and voluntary organisations should be encouraged to develop plans to recognise, value, support, facilitate and encourage volunteering, and to work in partnership to do so. It also urges help to voluntary bodies to access sufficient and sustainable funding, without excessive red tape or bureaucracy, while maintaining controls on public expenditure. Private sector can play a role The report seeks to encourage companies and other private-sector operators, as part of their corporate social responsibility strategy, to financially support initiatives promoting and enhancing volunteering. Finally it recommends that 2011 be declared the European Year of Volunteering. Speaking about her report, Marian Harkin said that "we need to ensure European policies recognise and support volunteers in their valuable work. Furthermore for every €1 organisations spent on supporting volunteers they received an average return worth between €3 and €8". Stressing the wider benefits she said that "there is a strong link between volunteering and active citizenship...involvement in voluntary activities is a tangible expression of participatory democracy".
involvement in voluntary activities is a tangible expression of participatory democracy".
If you count pointing out the spots where the state has failed to do its job properly, then sure.
- Jake Ceterum censeo Chicago esse delendam
