Message of the Working group on Volunteering and ICTs

We, participants in the 18th World Volunteer Conference, held in Barcelona from 17 to 21 August 2004, representing organizations from Armenia, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Mali, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, Tunisia, United States declare the following:

We met throughout this Conference, within the framework of the Working Group on Volunteering and ICTs. We reaffirm the impact of volunteerism on ICTs and the impact of ICTs on volunteerism. We agreed on a national strategy for the implementation of the Action Plan on Volunteering and ICTs which was presented to governments in December 2003 at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

Priorities

We have identified four priorities to:

1. Networking around ICTs and volunteerism
2. Identifying national specificities
3. Raising awareness about the role of volunteers in the information society
4. Implementing specific projects

Steps

We propose the following steps:

1. Create a national multi-actor working group (private and public sectors, civil society)

2. Adopt a national action plan (based on the international one adopted in Geneva in 2003)

3. Implement activities

a. National meetings

b. Awareness raising of public opinion about volunteerism in the information society (youth, governments, companies, civil society)

c. Inventory of existing ICT volunteerism examples

d. National participation in international scientific research study

4. Continue liaising with international working group through mailing list

5. Write a national report which will feed into the international one to be presented at the WSIS Tunis Summit in November 2005

Criteria for participation in national working groups

• A volunteer organization
• A company involving volunteers (e.g. corporate volunteering)
• A governmental institution involved in the promotion of volunteerism
• A resource person in the field of volunteerism and/or ICTs

The 18th World Volunteer Conference was promoted by IAVE (International Association for Volunteer Effort) and, on this occasion, organized by FCVS, (Federació Catalana de Voluntariat Social).

The meetings of the Working Group on Volunteerism and ICTs were coordinated by Viola Krebs, Focal Point of the World Summit on the Information Society Volunteer Family. For more information, see www.worldwidevolunteer.org