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The civil society of the future will not be built in conference halls alone. It will be brewed over tea in repurposed mills, whispered in solidarity via WhatsApp, and taught through first-aid courses in community centres. It will be shaped by the ethic of commoning—of shared care, collective power, and radical love.
Volunteering for a Sustainable Future: A United Nations Volunteers Perspective Continuing our series of interviews with influential Forum leaders and IVCO delegates, this week we met with Sandra Koch, Team Leader, Secretariat for the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development (IVY) at the United Nations Volunteers (UNV). UNV collaborates with the United Nations system, Member States, civil society and others to drive peace, development, and humanitarian efforts through volunteerism. In a historic resolution, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2026 the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development – in short: International Volunteer Year (IVY) 2026. This significant milestone provides the opportunity to celebrate volunteers and their contributions on a global stage. Register today Tell us a little about IVY 2026 and your role as its Team Leader at UNV? IVY 2026 is a United Nations General Assembly initiative to spotlight the vital role of volunteerism in achieving the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals. As Team Leader of the IVY 2026 Secretariat at UNV, I coordinate our outreach, advocacy and communications efforts around the International Year. The Secretariat’s role – as mandated by the General Assembly – is to support Member States, United Nations entities civil society,
Did you know that each year IVCO publishes Think Pieces from its members and delegates that discuss the very latest in global volunteering practice and, that they are free for you to access?
Continuing our new series of interviews with influential Forum leaders and IVCO delegates. This week we met with Christina Schulte, CEO of VIA e.V., the Association for International and Intercultural Exchange in Germany.
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In our latest interview we met with Rithyra Liv, Country Director at France Volontaires in the Kingdom of Cambodia. France Volontaires has been working in Cambodia since 2002 and opened the first Asian Volunteering Centre in Phnom Penh in 2011.
In 1862, Henri Dunant, deeply moved by the suffering he witnessed in 1859 at the Battle of Solferino, asked a transformative question in his book A Memory of Solferino: could communities create relief groups in times of peace, ready to serve the wounded in times of war? His idea, rooted in compassion and neutrality, led to the creation of the Red Cross Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement, now the world’s largest humanitarian network.
Continuing our series of interviews with influential Forum leaders and IVCO delegates, this week we met with Tariku Negash, Project Manager at Serve Global, a civil society organisation dedicated to promoting structured volunteering services for peace and development.
Indigenous communities around the world have long navigated crisis, colonisation, and change through deep relationships, communal responsibility and care for our environment. When confronted with today’s intersecting global challenges, we need models of cooperation that are effective, relational and grounded in reciprocity.
Forum is a global network of organisations working through volunteers to achieve sustainable development
International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum)
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