2 August 2011 - Under the banner of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10), about 200 high-level leaders and decision-makers are invited to the conference in Budapest, Hungary, from 5-7 September. They will represent humanitarian and development organizations, governments, civil society, academia, the UN system and the corporate sector. It will be one of the first such conferences on volunteerism with such high-level participants on a global scale.

With the main theme „Volunteering for a Sustainable Future‟, the conference will discuss broad topics covering volunteerism in peace, humanitarian and development work. These discussions will emphasize the link between protecting the planet and giving people a chance for a better life, between citizen engagement and sustainable solutions for the improvement of our societies. The conference will ultimately underline the untapped potential of volunteering as a cross-cutting force in sustainable development.

Organized by joint efforts of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Global Volunteer Conference further aims to bring together global stakeholders. It will be a significant opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas, advocate volunteerism, and further push volunteering policies at the national and international levels.

Through 15 to 30 roundtable discussions, delegates will examine the role of volunteers in addressing present and future challenges the world is facing. The results and recommendations from the five regional consultation meetings, which took place in the previous months, will be presented during the conference to provide prospects from different continents.

A conference declaration is expected to be issued at the close. The discussions should also contribute to debates during UN General Assembly sessions on volunteering in December.

By: Jingqi Liu