Add your voice to planning for the 2026 International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development
IAVE is working with a group of international organizations committed to volunteering and concerned that the role it plays in attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is unrecognized and undervalued.
We see it as the revolutionary act of our time to change this perception and ensure volunteering receives both the recognition and investment it needs to continue to thrive. We want to give fresh impetus to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals through the contributions of volunteers.
In advance of the United Nations’ International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development (IYV) in 2026, IAVE is hosting a series of Global Dialogues to encourage a wide set of conversations about volunteering that will inform and inspire what happens during IYV 2026 and beyond. We see IYV 2026 as an ambitious and effective “Call to Action” to deliver greater recognition for and investment in volunteering, and we are planning these dialogues to help answer that call.
Questions will focus on:
- What action is required—and by whom—to increase recognition of the value of volunteering made by all types of volunteers?
- What needs to be done to ensure that governments in all parts of the globe provide not only the rhetoric of support, but the financial investment that enables volunteering to flourish?
- What must change to address power dynamics and ensure that a 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?
Sign up for a IYV+26 Global Dialogue session today:
- Session 1 — Wednesday, December 4 at 12:00 noon GMT
- Session 2 — Wednesday, December 11 at 12:00 noon GMT
- Session 3 — Tuesday, January 14 at 14:00 GMT
- Session 4 — Thursday, 23 January at 14:00 GMT
More dates will be added soon. Maximum of 50 participants per session.