Dec 31
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New Year’s Goals?…Find Your Place to Make a Difference

By | Book Review, Tips for Volunteering Abroad | No Comments

New Years is traditionally a time of reflection on the past year and a looking forward to the one to come. It is a time of of self evaluation and making goals.

I recently picked up Frommer’s 500 Places Where You Can Make a Difference and it got my wheels turning for New Year’s goals. There are so many needs in the world but I am a firm believer that volunteer service can be a force of change in the world and is an important component in combating poverty, disease, environmental degradation and a host of other problems that plague humanity.

If you are thinking of traveling this coming year you might consider picking this book up and taking a look.  The number and variety of projects is mind opening to read through.

The book is divided into 15 categories of service opportunities! I was impressed by the diversity of the categories, some I wouldn’t have even thought about like “Special Events” and “Crossing Generations”.

As far as organization of the book there are, as the title indicates, 500 opportunities listed under the 15 different categories. Each listing fills about a page and includes a heading with a title summarizing the opportunity and the location and then a few paragraphs that provide some detail. At the end of the listing is a ‘Next Step” that provides the contact information for the organization providing the opportunity, details on cost and what else to see in the area.

Visually the book doesn’t provide a lot, only a few black and white pictures but what it lack is photography it provides in breadth. This is a fun book to flip through and get the creative juices flowing. And if you are looking of opportunities in a specific country you can always use the index in the back.

So make 2011 great…get out and be the change.

 

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Dec 14
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Ever Heard of Crowd-funding”?: Social Media and Fundraising

By | IVPA Members | No Comments

Recently, IVPA member, Global Citizens Network (GCN) was featured on the site fundraising site Tipping Bucket to raise money for a health clinic in Odienya, Kenya. In just five days GCN succeeded in raising $2,947 for the clinic. One hundred and forty nine people donated to “tip the bucket”. GCN’s Kenyan community host, Mike Agedo had this to say for the effort:

“TO ALL THE G.C.N. team who participated towards this cause, either in kind or monetary, I on behalf of Odienya do thank you. AND indeed I can’t wait to meet and work with the team coming later this year. EROKAMANO!”

 

The Tipping Bucket is a unique new platform for fundraising. A project is featured on their site for a certain period of time (ex 5-6 days) and a goal for how much money to raise. Social media is then used to raise awareness for the project. People donate through the site and if the goal is reached then the bucket is “tipped” and the project is funded. If the goal is not reached by the deadline, then the project does not receive the funds and those who had committed to donate are not charged.  So it is an all or nothing proposition. What do you think of this idea of “crowd-funding” as a way to raise funds?

 

Dec 07
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International Volunteer Day

By | Genevieve Brown, IVPA Executive Director | No Comments

Happy International Volunteer Day!

 

International Volunteer Day was December 5th and it is a special day to recognize and thank volunteers for their contributions to communities around the world.  In the US alone, about 63 Million people, almost 27% of the population, said they volunteered in the last year (US BLS).

The theme for 2010’s IVD was “Volunteering for the MDGs”. So as we celebrate volunteers worldwide let us also reflect on what is being done to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and what we personally might be able to contribute.

  • Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  • Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
  • Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
  • Goal 4: Reduce child mortality rate
  • Goal 5: Improve maternal health
  • Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
  • Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
  • Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development


You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by              what you give.

 — Winston              Churchill



					
				


						
		   
						
							
		

		
	

		

	
									
					


	

		
					
						
			

				
								
				

										
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 US Center for Citizen Diplomacy – Citizen Diplomacy Summit  

						By  | Genevieve Brown, IVPA Executive Director | 
						No Comments
					

				


Last week the US Center for Citizen Diplomacy convened a momentous summit on citizen diplomacy. The breadth topics on citizen diplomacy included tourism, volunteering, education, social corporate responsibility and government involvement. The event was cosponsored by the Department of State which added to the variety of participants and speakers.


IVPA Executive Director, Genevieve Brown, participated on the task force for K-12 Education. “While participating on the task force I was able to read the proposals for educating of our youth and engaging them with other cultures so that they become better global citizens. I was impressed with the innovation and creativity of the programs and organizations involved.” said Ms. Brown.


The conference was held over four days in Washington, D.C. and ended with the a commitment  to double the number of citizen diplomats by 2020.

					
				


						
		   
						
							
		

		
	

		

	
									
					


	

		
					
						
			

				
								
				

										
						Nov
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 IVPA Conference Summary  

						By  | Genevieve Brown, IVPA Executive Director, IVPA Members | 
						No Comments
					

				
On November 4, 2010 International Volunteer Programs Association (IVPA) convened its 2010 IVPA Conference. The event, held at Cross-Cultural Solutions’s headquarters in New Rochelle, NY, brought together executive directors from leading volunteer sending organizations from around the country.


With twelve organizations participating this year, the event gave an opportunity for executives, in the spirit of collaboration, to come together and share ideas in an intimate setting. Presentations and roundtable discussions focused on providing quality programing and trends in the field of international volunteering and voluntourism.


Some of the highlights included Social media expert, Stephanie Schwab, who presented on 2011 trends for social media and there was some great discussion on how those trends apply to the field of international volunteering.


The IVPA Conference is an annual event and open to IVPA member and non-member organizations. For more details about the event or next year’s conference please contact IVPA.



					
				


						
		   
						
							
		

		
	

		

	
									
					


	

		
					
						
			

				
								
				

										
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 2010 IVPA Conference – Nov 4th  

						By  | Genevieve Brown, IVPA Executive Director | 
						One Comment 
					

				
This week IVPA members and friends will be convening for the annual IVPA Conference and Membership Meeting. This year Cross-Cultural Solutions will be hosting the event at their headquarters in New Rochelle, NY.


The IVPA conference is a time for leaders in international volunteering to come together in an intimate setting to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the field.


IVPA Conference, Nov 4th 10:30-2:00, New Rochelle, NY


For registration information please contact Genevieve Brown at g.brown@volunteerinternational.org


 


 

					
				


						
		   
						
							
		

		
	

		

	
									
					


	

		
					
						
			

				
								
				

										
						Oct
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 Celebration and Support for International Service  

						By  | Genevieve Brown, IVPA Executive Director | 
						No Comments
					

				
Last week the Peace Corps celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a gathering at the University of Michigan. There is a great summary of the events on CFHI’s blog


It was at UM that John F. Kennedy spoke about a generation of young adults going abroad, making connections and giving service. The events on the anniversary of that day focused on continuing the movement, scaling-up and creating a lasting impact.


Everyone that has ever been a volunteer, been impacted by international service or supports international volunteering can now join this movement. Service World has a site where you can sign Declaration for International Service and write what your experiences have meant to you. Be part of the movement http://ourserviceworld.org/take-action/

					
				


						
		   
						
							
		

		
	

		

	
									
					


	

		
					
						
			

				
								
				

										
						Oct
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 Voluntourism and International Volunteering Highlighted in Text on Emerging Volunteer Areas  

						By  | Genevieve Brown, IVPA Executive Director | 
						No Comments
					

				


The Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizationsand Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) recently updated their Occasional Paper Series—Emerging Areas of Volunteering.


Voluntourism and international volunteering both received attention. The text made reference to “Cross National Volunteerism” and “VolunToursim”. There is a great summary of the text here.


As the summary text mentions. the main emerging trend in cross national volunteerism is the broadening the accessibility of international volunteer opportunities. While voluntourism is mentioned as a “mass marketing approach to service”.


The previously referenced blogger writes “While the tourism industry serves as the travel specialists, they realize that the overall effectiveness of VolunTourism rest with the nonprofit sector who must effectively engage and manage these traveling volunteers.” I think this is a key point when talking about international volunteering weather it is a  nonprofit or for profit organization placing a volunteer the effectiveness of the volunteer and the project she is working on in the community depends on who is engaging the community and the volunteers.


Some of the other volunteer areas highlighted included in the article compilation include:


    

  • episodic volunteering
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  • virtual volunteering
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  • employee volunteer programs.
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						Sep
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 IVPA Member Convenes UN Forum on Women’s Empowerment  

						By  | IVPA Members | 
						2 Comments
					

				




IVPA Member, Child Family Health International (CFHI) recently convened a forum at the United Nations on the Empowerment of Women.


Held on September 15th, the forum followed the July meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council, which concluded with member states stressing the need for greater investment in women and girls to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women worldwide – also the specific objective of the Millennium Development Goal #3.


The forum featured women who are assuming leadership roles in non-government organizations (NGOs), from high organizational roles to grass-roots levels, who talked about the challenges they face, and specific strategies for how they are succeeding.


The forum was a great success and CFHI has been asked to return and continue to support such important issues.


For more information on CFHI, please visit www.cfhi.org

					
				


						
		   
						
							
		

		
	

		

	
									
					


	

		
					
						
			

				
								
				

										
						Sep
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 Book Review: The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations To Enrich Your Life  

						By  | Book Review, Tips for Volunteering Abroad | 
						No Comments
					

				
This post marks a new series of book reviews for the blog. There are a variety of books related to international volunteering and voluntourism. By providing a summary and review my hope is to facilitate potential volunteers in their search for resources and programs to fit their needs.




“The 100 Best Volunteer Vacations To Enrich Your Life” by Pam Grout was published in 2009 by National Geographic. The book is divided into seven chapters representing world regions. In each chapter there are detailed summaries of projects from a variety of organizations. The summaries provide background information on the volunteer sending organization as well details about the activities and highlights of the featured program.


“Volunteer Vacations” is fun to flip through for those who, like me, like to imagine all the places they might go. I would recommend this for someone just starting to think about taking a volunteer vacation because it opens to the reader the many possibilities when choosing a volunteer program. For example as a volunteer you can get in the water to observe and record great white sharks with Greenforce or work on community projects with the marginalized Roma people (Gypsies) with Globe Aware. The possibilities are endless and this book just might help you narrow it all down or make your list of  places to visit even longer.