Final Report of the International Symposium on Volunteering 2001

The ISV 2001 CD ROM report provides a "snapshot" of the first International Year of Volunteers (IYV 2001) --through the International Symposium on Volunteering (ISV 2001, November 2001), available in three formats: web, CD-ROM and paper. View in Issuu.

The Program contains summaries of each of the 53 sessions of ISV 2001--as well as each day. Nearly 500 original presentations, speeches and abstracts are under Documents. There are profiles of attending Countries, with links to related documents, and images from the Exhibition, in which National Committee Representatives exhibited materials created all over the world in the spirit of volunteerism.

There are profiles of Participants as well, with basic contact information, how they were involved, and links to any documents--even action pictures! The Online News on this disc was created and released during the course of the Symposium. Videos, interviews and more than 300 exciting photographs are under Multimedia.

No human society could exist without volunteers.

Volunteers play a key role, locally and globally--for individuals, families, communities and nations. The International Year of Volunteers (IYV 2001) launched by the United Nations was an opportunity to highlight the achievements of millions of volunteers worldwide who give their time and expertise to help in conflict zones, with the environment, with children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, with sports education. The list is virtually endless.

125 IYV National and 77 Regional Committees were set up to implement the Year's four objectives: recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteering.

It is in this context that over 550 people involved in volunteer work from 126 countries gathered for the International Symposium on Volunteering (ISV 2001) from 18 to 21 November 2001 in Geneva, Switzerland to review activities, share best practices, enhance networking and recommend actions beyond IYV 2001. Under the slogan "Think and act both locally and globally", presenters explored relations of volunteering to media, economy, generations, women, fundraising, legislation, social marketing, management, research, poverty alleviation, and more. As IYV 2001 was the first International Year in which new technologies played a major role, several sessions focused on information technologies, providing an opportunity for National Committees to build on achievements made throughout the Year. National Committee Representatives discussed plans to continue their work by transforming Committees into National Volunteer Centers, ensuring continued infrastructure, research and adequate training. At the Symposium Exhibition, National Committee members joined forces to display activities and promotional items: newsletters from Bangladesh; stamps from Bahrain; hats from Mongolia; scarves from Syria...

Among the honorary guests attending the Symposium were Moritz Leuenberger, President of the Swiss Confederation; Carlo Lamprecht, President of the State Council, Republic and Canton of Geneva; Manuel Tornare, Mayor of the City of Geneva; Ambassador Walter Fust, Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; His Royal Highness Crown Prince Felipe de Asturias of Spain and IYV Eminent Person; Dr. Nafis Sadik, Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General; Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers Programme; Ambassador Koichi Haraguchi of Japan; Alfredo Sfeir-Younis, Special Representative to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization, World Bank; Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General and CEO of CIVICUS; Fékrou Kidané, Director of International Cooperation of the International Olympic Committee and Ibrahim Osman, Director of the Monitoring and Evaluation Division of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

On 5 December 2001--the International Day of Volunteers--a common message of the Symposium participants was read at the 56th General Assembly Special Event of the United Nations.