Part ONE: Basic facts about Volunteering in France

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1 Part ONE: Basic facts about Volunteering in France 1) Some general facts on Volunteering in France: One French citizen in two volunteers either in Volunteer organizations (associations), or in trade unions, political parties, or in an informal way. This means 18.3 million Volunteers ( Source: IFOP, September 2010) 2) How do Volunteer involving organisations (associations) function? There are 1 Million Volunteer involving organisations in France work with both salaried staff and Volunteers work with volunteers only When asked : Have you difficulties in recruiting Volunteers? 45% says no and 55% says yes 3) Volunteering by age groups years old: roughly 17 % years old: 15% years old: 18% years old: 26% 65+ : 37% 4) Basic Facts about France Benevolat: Our organisation pursues three main aims: Promote Recognition and empowerment for Volunteering within Volunteer involving organisations ( associations) - Inform Volunteer involving organisations about Volunteer management techniques - Propose volunteering opportunities to the public and help match volunteers with volunteer involving organisations. The targets of France Bénévolat messages are: - General Public - The media -Volunteer involving organisations -Public authorities and public institutions How does it reach its goals? - Research and advocacy activitiessusana.szabo@orange.fr

2 - A Website -Organisation of meetings, conferences, seminars -Advertising campaigns -Trainings -Volunteer passport -Empowerment of local volunteer organisations - Local information campaigns - International networking Origins of France Bénévolat France Bénévolat was launched on December 5 th, 2003, as the result of a merge between two older structures: The National Volunteer Centre (CNV) and Planète Solidarité. Its initial aim was to create an efficient organisation based on the Northern American model of Volunteer centres, whose main task is to match volunteers with volunteer opportunities arising in Volunteer involving organizations. France Bénévolat was well received by national and local authorities and by other stakeholders. Recognition of France Bénévolat France Bénévolat is officially recognized by the French Government as an organisation serving the common good. It is also recognized by the ministry of Education as an organisation allowed to take initiatives in schools and educational establishments. At the international level, it is member of the European Volunteer Centre (CEV) and IAVE ( International Association for Volunteer Effort) France Bénévolat and its partners France Bénévolat is at the service of Volunteer Involving Organisations, and is partner with main Volunteer networks: Red Cross, Caritas, League against cancer, Secours Populaire, Scouts and Guides, Action against hunger, food banks, etc... France Bénévolat network represents more than local organisations through its 300 Regional and local centres across France. France Bénévolat's Volunteer Passport France Bénévolat has developped this passport as a tool for the recognition of experiences and competences gained through volunteering. The volunteer, together with the organisation record in the passport: - the missions accomplished by the volunteer and the benefits he drew from these tasks. - the volunteer's motivations and objectives, in view of an eventual re-conversion into a paid job.

3 The passport is a mean of recognising the value of volunteering, the tasks and missions accomplished. It can be used in all fields of volunteer activity and on all missions. It is a personal tool: The volunteer can keep it and update it throughout its career as a volunteer. France Bénévolat's Volunteer passport is recognised by Employment agencies, by the authorities delivering skill recognition acquired through informal learning. It is composed of 5 removable sheets and a user's guide. A special website has been created to promote the passport: Part TWO How can France Bénévolat connect intergenerational learning with international exchange. II.1 France Bénévolat and Intergenerational activities Ever since its beginnings, France Bénévolat organises one or two seminars a year on specific themes linked to volunteering: youth and volunteering, renewal of leadership within volunteer organizations, senior volunteering etc. In 2008, we held a seminar on "young and old in the service of solidarity at local level". The result of this seminar lead us to believe that the subject of intergenerational solidarity was an interesting one that deserved further study, and thus it became our priority for Almost simultaneously, France Bénévolat took part in an international event (Tramp) and attended also a conference in Dusseldorf, Germany on the subject of intergenerational learning. The National Volunteering Conference organised by the German Government in 2010 also touched on the subject and impressed our participants by their advanced thinking. So when we organised our big symposium on Intergenerational solidarity in December 2010, we gave it an international input by inviting speakers from abroad (Scotland and Italy). Was presented at this symposium: an action-research on the state of play of intergenerational coopération in France with the compilation and description of 50 intergenerational projects across the country that could serve as "good practice" examples for the dissemination of ideas and initiatives. As a result of this work, we also decided to give priority to this subject both on national and international level for the next two years. II.2 France Bénévolat and international activities France Bénévolat has been an active member of the European Volunteer Centrer CEV, the voice of volunteering in Europe, regrouping 88 national and regional organisations from 34 countries ( meaning more than organizations at local level). Presently, I am

4 Vice-President of CEV. FB is also member of an international organization IAVE ( international Association for Volunteer Effort). II.3. Why did France Bénévolat decide to give priority to Intergenerational work, both at national and international level? Because: In our view, these two different levels complete and stimulate each other. Furthermore : a) it is very inspiring and stimulating to find out that the same issues are being discussed elsewhere in Europe; b) in some countries, in Germany for example, these initiatives started earlier, so there is much to be learned, from foreign examples; c) there might be already good practices abroad that we can adopt and thus save time and maybe avoid obvious mistakes. II.4 However, there are barriers for this work both at national and international level. II4.1) At national level a) Although there are a great number of intergenerational initiatives, most of these are microinitiatives, often undertaken by small organisations at very local level giving these initiatives little visibility. Large volunteer organisations that have visibility asusana.szabo@orange.frre structured according to their main purpose, (youth, the elderly, humanitarian action etc. ) and hardly any has as its main aim "intergenerational solidarity". Although some started to develop their own intergenerational programmes, there is little transversal cooperation amongst volunteer organisations on this subject. b) Other stakeholders, such as Retirement homes, companies have also developed initiatives, some of them very interesting indeed, but lacking both national visibility and tools for transversal cooperation at national level. c) The State, has not given much attention to the subject yet. Local authorities are on the other hand very interested and are the main partners in developing intergenerational programmes. Unfortunately, their services are also structured in such a way that transversal cooperation is not easy. d) Financing is also directed towards traditional fields (youth, education, the elderly) and transversal issues such as intergenerational cooperation are in a budgetary no mans land... e) there is little theoretical research undertaken on the subject of intergenerational cooperation.

5 II.4.2) At International level The problems of getting involved in intergenerational work at international level encounters more or less the same difficulties than at national level: - Traditional vertical fields of activity and EU finance involving intergenerational activity has to find its place, - Transversal cooperations between the different existing networks have to be built up and that takes time. Added difficulties: a) reside in the fact that, at least in France, most intergenerational experiences have been conducted on local level. The networks themselves are on the contrary national or European, often removed from the grassroot action. This means that communication and the time factor when communicating becomes extremely important. b) Language can be a problem, financing of international activities in a period where local budget are cut often by 50% can also be a handicap. PART III. What can be done in order to connect both approaches? a) Construct a global informal network composed of smaller networks interested to work on this subject on international level. Preparation for the European year of Active Aging could be the opportunity for a closer cooperation between these different networks, following the precedent set of the 35 European networks working together for the European Year of Volunteering and who are successfully working together in an AllianceEYV 2011, to mark this year. b) At the level of organisations, invite each other to conferences, events, seminars held at national level. c) Organising joint events are a must provided they are planned very much ahead in order to set up efficient communication plan and action accordingly. Susana Szabo / susana.szabo@orange.fr France Bénévolat February 2011