Background

The year 2011 has been declared as the European Year of Volunteering by the European Commission. It is likely that this will provide an opportunity for Leeds to build on the successes of its 2010 Leeds Year of Volunteering programme.

In the UK the European Year will be co ordinated nationally by the Office of Civic Society – part of the Cabinet Office. The year is to have the following themes. Each will run for 12 months but there will be a theme focus as follows:

• Jan and Feb: Poverty and Homelessness (to build on 2010 year of Poverty and Social Exclusion)
• March and April: Young people and education
• May and June: Culture and the arts
• July and August: Sport
• September and October: Environment
• November and December: Health and social care (to lead in to 2012 Year of Active Ageing)

To prepare for the European Year of the Volunteer 2011 Leeds City Council is to involve local voluntary organisations in linking with European counterparts through a European Volunteering Conference in the city on December 7th 2010. The purpose of the conference is to bring together key European and UK decision and policy makers from the volunteering sector together with experts and practitioners in the field from Leeds and it’s European twin towns to share volunteering experiences and plan joint actions and activities for the European Year of Volunteering in 2011. The venue is as yet to be decided. The event will form part of the Europe Direct Leeds programme of events 2010/11.

The event will involve 25 delegates from 4 European countries (Germany, France, Czech Republic and Romania) taking part in a 3 day study visit between 6th and 8th December , including the conference on volunteering on the 7th December. The visitors from our twin cities will primarily be representatives of European voluntary organisations. It is planned that these visitors will be hosted by local voluntary organisations. The total number of delegates for the conference will be around 150 people: we would hope to invite all of the Leeds partners have made the current year of volunteering such a success in meeting its aims of

• celebrating and promoting volunteering
• increasing community engagement through volunteering
• increasing the number of volunteers and volunteering opportunities
• delivering a quality volunteering experience

The approach during the 2011 European Year of Volunteering will be to build on this success with the aims of
• making the increase in volunteering sustainable
• developing a strategic approach to volunteering – a Leeds plan for Volunteering
• supporting local communities and delivering better locality working through volunteering.
• encouraging the City Council and partner agencies own workforces to volunteer

The Leeds European Volunteering Conference 7th December

The conference outline is as follows:

European and National volunteering

• European perspective,  Antonia.Mochan Head of Media, European Commission in the UK EY2011
• Towards an enabling environment in the UK ,Tom Leftwich, Policy Advisor, participation, Office of Civil Society
• UK volunteering and how it is changing : Mike Locke, our Director of Public Affairs, Volunteering England

Leeds Approach
Keynote speakers:

• Tom Riordan, Chief Executive, Leeds City Council
• Sally-Anne Greenfield, Chief Executive, Leeds Community Foundation

Panel Discussion

Lunchtime: market place with key volunteer organisations

Workshops 
Six workshops (three to run in parallel) jointly chaired by our twin towns and the Leeds host organisation spotlighting good volunteering practice in the following:

• Poverty and homelessness
• Culture and Arts
• Young people and education
• Sport
• Environment
• Health and Social care
• Corporate volunteering

Panel Discussion and Plenary

Reception for twin towns representatives


Funding for the European conference and twin town visits has been accessed through the European Union. Funding for the European Year 2011 in Leeds is still under discussion as is the opportunity of sponsorship. Further information can be obtained from Leeds City Council International Unit - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it