IVCO
Cambodia 2025
Cambodia 2025
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The conference report ‘Strengthening Civil Society in Challenging Times’ captures key themes from the 2025 International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations Conference (IVCO 2025). It reflects the collaborative efforts of the IVCO 2025 Organising Team. IVCO was organised by the Global Volunteering Forum with co-hosts the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC) and in partnership with Australian Volunteers International (AVI), France Volontaires and VSO Cambodia.
The report was written by Dr. Sathish Rao Appalanaidu and Fazirah Naser, with the support of conference facilitators who assisted with note-taking and documentation: Yakshika Vats, Kathleen Cass and Maia Baillie Smith.
We are halfway to 2030 and the end date for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). There cannot be successful development without peace and civil engagement, and therefore there is a need to unite sustainable development in strengthening civil society and sustainable peacebuilding. This latest think piece shares perspectives from Mr Juergen Deile, Ms. Lina Leav and Ms. Phyu Sin Oo, staff and volunteers at the Cooperation Committee for Cambodia (CCC)
This think piece, brought to us by Liyun Wendy Choo, Tina Mackie and Saane Tupou from Te Tūao Tāwāhi Volunteer Service Abroad in Aotearoa New Zealand, explores localisation in the context of volunteering for development (VfD) and argues that highly skilled international volunteers contribute best to global solidarity when they are co-actors and supporters of local agenda, rather than implementers. VSA’s mission is to connect skilled New Zealand volunteers to share their experience and knowledge directly with local people and communities to create lasting, positive change across the Pacific and beyond.
This latest think piece by Dr Isidora D. Mytilinaiou, Ph.D. explores how psychological contract theory and emotional labour theory are shaping the design of a new 65+ Volunteer Registry for public children’s hospitals in Greece. Drawing on comparative fieldwork in Greece and the UK, it examines how older adult volunteers can navigate unspoken expectations and emotional demands in children’s hospital settings—contexts where compassion is both essential and complex to manage.
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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.
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?
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