It is over two years since the United Nations declared 2001 as International
Year of Volunteers. While this fact has been broadly publicized, many
are rightfully disappointed in what is NOT happening. You can visit
the IYV2001 Web site yourself and see what you think : http://www.iyv2001.org
I have consistently said that IYV is "ours" and we shouldn't
wait for someone else to coordinate it--and that my biggest fear is
that the volunteer community might waste this unique opportunity.
Unfortunately, this fear seems to be coming true. So, in a last-ditch
effort to stimulate productive discussion, I’ve decided to “go
public" with my frustrations.
1. The UN apparently does not fund its "Year of __"
events--it just designates them. It also appoints some unit of the
UN to be the contact point for the "Year" in question.
For the International Year of Volunteers, they assigned what seemed
a logical choice: the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program. UNV
is a Peace Corps-type program placing volunteers from all over the
world into other countries for economic development assistance (in
fact, the Peace Corps is the US affiliate of UNV).
2. While the UN is headquartered in New York, not all its agencies
are. And, as it turns out, UNV is one of those NOT located in the
U.S. It operates out of Bonn, Germany. That's why you'll keep seeing
a German address on all IYV2001 materials. Further complicating
things, of course, is that the 150+ UNV staff are scattered around
the world, working in each of the countries that receive UNV volunteers.
3. Because UNV is a full-time, stipended volunteer effort, the
UNV staff really knows very little about what we call the "volunteer
community." Legitimately, UNV staff are more tied up in international
affairs, developing country (they don't say "Third World")
concerns, and work projects of year-long duration or more. UNV initially
saw IYV2001 as a diversion from their primary work (as it meant
lots of extra stuff to do without extra money). Then they began
to view it as a chance to position UNV more visibly. So there has
been a good amount of internal United Nations politicking going
on.
4. UNV started off admirably with a wonderfully-worded mission
statement and various documents that (to me and I suspect to most
of you) sound exactly on target in terms of cutting-edge volunteer
issues. They articulated goals for IYV that went way beyond "feel-good"
celebrations. On paper, IYV had (still has) the potential to focus
attention on the support volunteers need, the importance of funding
volunteer efforts appropriately, respect for the skills of volunteer
leadership, etc. Read their material and you'll see some wonderful
things. UNV also recognizes that the word "volunteer"
engenders all sorts of stereotypes (even in other languages) and
has tried hard to be as broad in scope and inclusive as possible
in what the concept of "volunteering" might cover in many
cultures.
5. UNV deserves praise for its vision, but they made a strategic
decision that I feel was a major mistake. From the beginning, they
refused to create any unifying project for the year. They felt that
an international conference (such as the one in Bejing during the
International Women's Year) was not very effective in terms of its
ultimate usefulness, an opinion with which I agree. But apart from
creating a central Web site to share information, UNV insisted that
each country should develop its own, independent way of celebrating
IYV2001--without any single project or goal to connect these national
celebrations together. As I have already expressed to UNV leadership
directly, this creates a "Multi-National Year of Volunteers,"
but it does nothing to stimulate an "International" one.
More important, it places IYV2001 squarely in the middle of the
internal politics of every nation in the world! Without an external,
let's-put-aside-our-differences-so-we-can-link-with-our-global-colleagues
reason to get together, the status quo reigns in every country.
6. Now it is nine months before the December 5, 2000 kick-off (International
Volunteer Day--and, for some, the 2nd annual VPM Recognition Day)
and ten months before the start of the year itself. In some of the
developing countries, steering committees have indeed been formed
and activities planned (see the IYV2001 Web site)--almost always
with government leadership. UNV has decided to put quite a bit of
money (I'm not sure of the source) into some sort of an extravagant
sound and light show at the UN building in New York (they have hired
a show business company to produce it). This is a great idea and
may generate publicity at the time, but it is sizzle without steak.
They also have a "quilt" idea going, in which any organization
can submit photographs of volunteers (again, see their Web site).
On December 5, a montage of these photos will be unveiled, creating
a huge "quilt" (think AIDS) to represent graphically the
diversity of faces of volunteers. Another lovely idea, really. But
not tied to anything else, in my opinion.
7. Here and there I have heard of national steering committees in
Europe and other continents trying to do something in their respective
countries, especially those in which there is a national volunteer
center under government funding. But those nations with the most
developed volunteer communities are nowhere with their planning.
Again, since there is no external project to motivate people to
link together, the inertia of business-as-usual takes over. And
so does the politics: Who should convene a steering group? What
is a neutral meeting site? Who will get credit? Who will fundraise
and who pays for the fundraising? etc., etc. [A special note praising
NYAVA, as they are the only volunteerism folks who have moved forward
independently to make sure New York City’s volunteer community celebrates
IYV. They have generously shared their newly-announced mission
statement and welcome comments from colleagues.]
8. Into this vacuum steps IAVE: the International Association
for Volunteer Effort. IAVE has been around a long time and has a
track record for running biennial World Volunteer Conferences attracting
thousands of people from over 90 countries. Leaving aside any pro
or con opinions of IAVE, they obviously are a natural "fit"
to IYV2001. The first thing IAVE did was move its traditional conference
time of late summer to January. And so, on January 14-18, 2001,
IAVE's World Volunteer Conference in Amsterdam becomes the first
global event for IYV2001 (see http://www.iave.org).
And it should be an exciting event. Good for them for seizing the
opportunity.
9. I hope that Canadians, UK folks, Australians, and people from
non-English-speaking countries will respond to this Hot Topic by
sharing their national plans for IYV2001. But as an American, I
am at a loss. From where I sit--and I have been really looking--I
see no activity at all at the national level. I have heard rumors
of an American "steering committee" convened with the help of the
Junior League, but none of the usual channels of communication have
shared any news about this (the committee is mentioned in the IYV
Website country list). Points of Light is not taking leadership
in spreading the word, although they probably should. One complicating
factor there is that Kenn Allen, the operating head of POLF, happens
also to be the "World President" of IAVE, presenting some
conflict of interest. The Association for Volunteer Administration
(AVA) supposedly has an internal committee looking at this, but
neither their 1998 nor 1999 conference provided an opportunity to
make collaborative plans and October 2000 is too late to engage
a broad spectrum of people in planning.
Please--if you are already planning things--let the rest of us know!
If you are seeking participants in a project, ask for help! If you
feel isolated and don’t know what you, as one person can do,
post a response and see if someone near by feels the same way! I’m
looking forward to hearing from you.
