CSV Promoting Volunteering in Europe

CSV plays a part in the social development of Europe in encouraging active European citizenship, particularly among disadvantaged young people.

CSV currently holds the Secretariat for Volonteurope, a Europe-wide volunteering network aiming to inform opinion, shape policy, and share best practice.

Our work with our European partners focuses on promoting CSV's vision of active citizenship to government and to European institutions.

By building links with other voluntary organisations we ensure that CSV’s ideas and policies inform European social thinking. We want to share best practice with other European voluntary organisations.

Volonteurope campaigns for the inclusion of voluntary and community policies in European and national agendas, producing research, resources, delivering Annual Conferences and tailored seminars.

Volonteurope is one of the founding members of the Alliance of European NGOs that successfully campaigned for the European Year of Volunteering in 2011. It is also one of six winners of the 2009 European Economic and Social Committee Prize for Organised Civil Society. Volonteurope is supported by the European Commission’s Europe for Citizens Programme.

CSV also plays an active role in the Active Citizens of Europe Awards (ACE Awards) which recognise the invaluable contribution of individual volunteers and volunteer-involving organisations to social cohesion and active citizenship in Europe. Read about previous winner Bernadette Spellman's award here.

For more information about Volonteurope, the annual Volonteurope Conference, and about the ACE awards please visit www.volonteurope.org.