International Conference on Volunteerism

Volunteerism is defined as the willingness of people to work on behalf of others without the expectation of pay or other tangible gain.  But ask an average Serb, and they would perhaps associate the term “volunteer” to the government’s practice of not paying newly-graduated doctors for their work in state hospitals, for example, which usually precedes a notice that their “volunteering” will not result in full-time employment for another 5-6 years until pure luck or a sudden vacant position at an inner-city hospital provides an opportunity for them to utilize their painstakingly-acquired skills of using a stethoscope on a daily basis. Perhaps this average Serb might think of the Tom Hanks movie Volunteer, before the work that one does out of concern for and for the benefit of their community.

ISC/CSAI supported organization of the international conference Toward An Enabling Framework for Volunteerism: What Needs To Be Done?, which was held in Novi Sad, Serbia, on April 26-27, 2007.  The Conference convened more than 90 government officials, academics, and NGO representatives from ten countries (Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia), to discuss conditions for creating an enabling legal and social environment for volunteerism, which will nurture the volunteer culture in the region.  To that end, the conference discussed issues and shared best practices pertinent to volunteerism in the region. For Serbian NGOs, the conference created an excellent opportunity to examine the draft Law on Volunteerism, which a group of local experts prepared in collaboration with the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL) and the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), against a background of regional and international best practices. Significantly, participants in the break-out session dealing with legal issues surrounding volunteerism suggested that the draft should serve as a model for the region, because of its clarity, simplicity and flexibility.

The Conference was a joint effort of the following organizations: the initiative  IZVoR, operating within the project The Initiative for Volunteerism Legislation in Serbia, implemented by the Novi Sad Humanitarian Center, the Volunteers’ Centre of Vojvodina, and the Nature Conservation Movement, while the principle funder and organizer of the conference was the European Center for Not-for-Profit Law (ECNL), operating within the ISC’s Civil Society Advocacy Initiative funded by USAID/Serbia.

The conference was the initial step towards a better Serbia, which, among other things, takes pride in citizens who are empowered, skilled and willing to volunteer for the benefit of others. Future volunteers may be specially trained as rescuers, guides, assistants, teachers, missionaries or radio operators and will do work on an impromptu basis, recognizing a need and filling it, from the dramatic (searching for a lost child) to the mundane (giving directions to a lost visitor).

While Tom Hanks’ movies are always a welcome diversion, we hope that initiatives to foster the culture of volunteering such as the ISC/CSAI-supported conference, will eventually bring another meaning to the term “volunteer” in Serbia.