The 21st International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE) World Volunteer Conference
The 21st International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE) World Volunteer Conference will take place in Singapore on January 24-27, 2011.
Hosted by Singapore’s National Volunteer & Philanthropy Center, the event will run in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the
UN International Year of Volunteers (IYV +10) and IAVE’s 40th anniversary. In the spirit of highlighting the impact of volunteering on
communities, the conference theme is 'Volunteering to Change the World'. This conference will review the impact of volunteers since IYV
and assess what’s needed to move forward by evaluating our achievements, examining where we have fallen short, and how we can organize
ourselves better to impact society.
Age-Friendly Cities with Cooperation & Participation – The Asian Pacific Perspective
A regional conference will be held on November 19-20, 2010 in Hong Kong with a theme “Age-Friendly Cities with Cooperation & Participation - The
Asian Pacific Perspective”. The theme capitalizes on the promotion of inter-disciplinary collaboration and inter-sectoral cooperation in
enabling an age-friendly environment for our senior citizens in society. RSVP International (RSVPI) staff will attend and anticipate
conducting a session titled Civic Engagement and Capacity Building for Age-Friendly Communities: Older Volunteers as a Natural
Resource for Health Service. For more information about the Conference, you may contact the Age-Friendly Organizing
Committee via email at ageing@hku.hk.
The BRIDGE Project
The BRIDGE Project is an international collaboration between the RSVP International (RSVPI) and other global volunteer organizations.
RSVPI is headquartered at the University of Maryland Center on Aging near Washington, D.C. RSVPI is committed to developing a network of
global volunteer opportunities for individuals 50+ that create meaningful roles and purposeful social networks to address local community
needs. RSVPI has helped organize 30+ volunteer programs in six continents. The Mission of the Bridge Project is to facilitate applied
learning experiences through email pen-pals or volunteer international exchanges between the U.S. and other global volunteer organizations to
foster increased knowledge of best service and organizational practices to strengthen volunteer service programs. Who is Eligible to Participate? Eligible individuals must be: (1) leaders in a volunteer paid or unpaid leadership or management position; (2) have access to a computer, and (3)
be willing to complete an initial volunteer profile to determine appropriate email pen-pals and or other exchange opportunities. For more information,
contact Jack Steele at jsteele@stny.rr.com.
RSVP International (RSVPI) expands to China
Two new RSVPI sites were launched in China in 2007-2008. The inaugural site was launched in Guilin in Southern China.
Guilin is a prefecture-level city in China, situated in the northeast of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on the west
bank of the Li River. Its name means "forest of Sweet Osmanthus", owing to the large number of fragrant Sweet Osmanthus
trees located in the city. The city has long been renowned for its unique scenery. Representatives from RSVPI Guilin
traveled to Singapore, a sister RSVP site to explore collaboration opportunities and learn about volunteerism. Still
in its early development stage, the Guilin RSVPI site has significant opportunities to impact the city through volunteer
projects. A second RSVPI site in under development in Beijing, China. After a series of meetings with various social
and government officials, a group of volunteers have informally organized to develop an RSVPI site in Beijing. Contact
Jack Steele at jsteele@stny.rr.com for more information about RSVPI China volunteer sites.
RSVP Singapore announces a new direction
Looking at future trends, RSVP Singapore changed its name to RSVP Singapore -- The Organization of Senior Volunteers. Their organization harnesses
the experiences of 1,200 members. Programs and service opportunities include mentoring school children, teaching basic computer skills, serving
as airport ambassadors and a host of other civic engagement opportunities. RSVP President Philbert Chin, said the rebranding shows that seniors
are a national asset and that seniors are never too old to make a difference. The new direction shifts away from just asking for donations to creating
financial self-sufficiency. Many of its members are semi-retired professionals with experience in strategic planning and marketing who take on local
consultancy and training projects. Half of their earnings support RSVP Singapore -- The Organization of Senior Volunteers, and the other half is shared
among the members involved. To learn more about RSVP Singapore, you can visit their website at http://www.rsvp.org.sg.
RSVP United Kingdom (RSVP UK) expands volunteer service opportunities
In the last 12 months 1,097 new volunteers joined RSVP for a new grand total of 14,251 volunteers who during the year performed just under 2.5 million volunteer hours on community projects.
RSVP UK has been awarded European funding (2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion) from the Department of Work and Pensions
to implement a project targeted at older people in the UK that suffer poverty or social exclusion. This project will raise awareness regarding
poverty and social exclusion among older people with pathways for improved self-sufficiency, share best practices and information with stakeholders,
and provide a practical demonstration project of help by volunteers which could be replicated by others. RSVP UK will engage and train 60 volunteers
as community networkers to speak to groups of older people and to stakeholder organizations about how they and others can help. RSVP UK will also engage
400 volunteers to disseminate information to 4,000 vulnerable older people in their communities and develop a toolkit to provide information where help
can be obtained. Another key element of the project will be recording digital stories so that older people can talk about their experience of poverty and
social exclusion, and how they were able to improve their quality of life. To learn more about RSVP UK and this innovative project, you can visit their
website at http://www.csv-rsvp.org.uk or you can subscribe their newsletter titled FOCUS by emailing
Colin Mason at cmason@csv.org.uk.
Staff from RSVP International presented at the 11th IAVE Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference
The conference 11th IAVE Asia Pacific Regional Volunteer Conference took place from December 7-11, 2007 in Nagoya-Aichi, Japan.
Over 400 people from all over the region took part. Countries and areas represented included Australia, Bangladesh, India, Korea,
the Philippines, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Fiji, Mongolia, New Zealand, United States of America and of course Japan.
RSVPI coordinated a forum titled Aging Baby Boomers as Social Capital: Volunteering, Lifelong Learning, and Community Cohesion.
This forum high-lighted a series of demonstration projects in the United States that address the issues of attracting baby boomers
into the voluntary sector through the use of lifelong learning, meaningful activities, and the opportunity for building new networks and social capital.
RSVPI publishes research on global volunteer initiatives - National and Global Agendas
RSVPI though the University of Maryland's Center on Aging published a book titled Civic Engagement and the Baby Boomer Generation.
Published in 2005, the book is a research-based guide for community based organizations that want to take advantage of the skills,
experiences and energy of the 77 million (US alone) individuals who are now approaching the age of retirement. Part V, includes c
hapters on National and Global Agendas. This book can be purchased through http://www.amazon.com.
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