In December 2023, the UN General Assembly declared 2026 the International Year for Volunteers for Sustainable Development (IVY 2026) to highlight the role of volunteers in advancing sustainability. A scoping group, led by IAVE and including Forum, IFRC, and UNICEF Generation Unlimited, was formed in early 2024 to drive global engagement. The group identified IVY 2026 as an opportunity to emphasize the power of volunteering, encourage greater investment in volunteering, and secure commitments from governments and others to support volunteering and an enabling environment in which volunteering will flourish. A key message for IVY 2026 is that volunteers can significantly contribute to sustainable development, but only if provided with an enabling environment. As a result, the scoping group has crystallized around a Call to Action that engages all actors in the volunteering ecosystem to help create and maintain this environment. The group has since evolved into the Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering Steering Committee, which includes other key global stakeholders.
Our goal is to hear from volunteers, volunteer-involving organizations, governments, corporations, philanthropic foundations, and others on what changes they feel are needed to bring about a transformative shift in the impact of volunteering on sustainable development. These will then be captured in a focused, action-oriented Call to Action which governments, VIOs, corporations and others will be asked to endorse and implement.
As a first step, we commissioned a Challenge Paper to surface and explore topics to be addressed in the Call to Action.
‘What support is required to help volunteers and volunteer-involving organizations navigate the challenges and maximise the role and contribution of volunteers in sustainable development?’
‘What needs to change to address the power dynamics and ensure that the diversity of voices of volunteers (women, young people, and other marginalized groups, formally or informally organized) play a key role in shaping an enabling environment for volunteering?’
‘What needs to be done to generate the necessary investments to enable volunteers to fulfil their potential?’
Throughout the International Year, we hope you will join us in campaigning for governments, NGOs, corporations, and donors to sign up to the Call to Action and commit to investment that creates a more enabling environment for volunteering to help deliver sustainable development for everyone.
During and following 2026, groups that have endorsed the Call to Action will be prompted and supported to take action, to share what action they have taken, and to progress a better future for volunteering.
How to Get Involved
We also hope that you will share details of the survey and dialogues widely when they are launched. In the meantime, you can read our Challenge Paper on a Call to Action for the Future of Volunteering, which sets the scene for the consultation.
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