Abbreviation | CEV |
---|---|
Formation | 1992 |
Headquarters | Rue d’Edimbourg 26 Brussels, Belgium |
Official language | English, French |
President | Lejla Šehić Relić |
Key people | Gabriella Civico (director) |
Website | www |
The Centre for European Volunteering (CEV) (until 1 July 2020 known as the European Volunteer Centre [1] ), established in 1992, is the European network of over 60 organisations dedicated to the promotion of, and support to, volunteers and volunteering in Europe at European, national or regional level. Through the network, CEV works to ensure that: the value of quality volunteering as an expression of Solidarity and European values is understood, supported and celebrated; policies & programmes, together with the European social environment, inspires, encourages and supports quality European Volunteering; Individuals and organisations that are active in the volunteering and civil society sphere share, learn and are inspired from one another in the framework of CEV . In this way CEV reaches out to the many thousands of volunteers and volunteer organisations in Europe as a source of support bringing the European dimension to their work.
CEV's origins lie in an initiative by 7 volunteer centres, Association pour le Volontariat [2] (Belgium), Centre National du Volontariat [3] (France), the National Centre for Volunteering [4] (UK), Centro Nazionale per il Volontariato [5] (Italy), Landelijk Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk [6] (Netherlands) and Plataforma para la Promoción del Voluntariado en España [7] (Spain). These organisations convened at a meeting organised in Lucca, Italy, in 1989, for the representatives of National and Regional Volunteer Centres from seven European countries. The outcome of the meeting was a joint declaration for increased European cooperation. [8]
CEV was founded in February 1990 on the basis of this declaration [9] and in 1992 was officially granted the status of “international non-profit organisation" registered under Belgian law. [10] The Vlaams Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk, [11] Flemish Volunteer Centre, was granted the responsibility to put in place the new organisation. On 5 December 1995, CEV organised the first ever "European Day for Volunteering in the European Parliament", Brussels, Belgium, with the active support of the European Parliament, the European Commission, the Council of the European Union and UNESCO. [12]
Between 1994 and 2002 CEV administered as Technical Assistance Office over 13 contracts of the European Commission's PHARE and TACIS-LIEN Programme in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and released a series of publications within these programmes. [13]
As of July 1, 2020, the CEV went through a process of rebranding. This rebranding consisted of changing the English name of CEV from “European Volunteer Centre” to “Centre for European Volunteering” in order to align the name with the already used acronym “CEV”, which was taken from the French name for the organisation “Centre Européen du Volontariat”. The rebranding also introduced a new logo and visual identity for the organisation, which was first used during the candidacy application stage for the European Volunteering Capital 2022.
On its 25th anniversary in 2017 CEV published a timeline of volunteering in Europe. [14]
CEV full members are national and regional support centres for volunteering and organisations exercising the role of a national or regional support centre for volunteering in European countries. Full members must be not-for profit and non-governmental organisations. [15]
Associate members are volunteer involving organisations or organisations that promote and develop volunteering in specialised field or a specific type of volunteering. Associate members act on local, regional, national or international level.
CEV is supported in its work by a Board [16] and by a Secretariat team [17] based in Brussels.
Name | Term |
---|---|
Ms Lejla Šehić Relić | 2019–present |
Ms Cristina Rigman | 2016–2019 |
Ms Eva Hambach | 2009– 2015 |
Dr Marijke Steenbergen | 2007–2009 |
Mr Christopher Spence | 2002–2007 |
Ms Liz Burns | 1997–2001 |
Ms Monique Verstraeten | 1992–1997 |
Name | Term |
---|---|
Ms Gabriella Civico | 2012–present |
Mr Martijn Pakker | 2011-2012 |
Mr Markus Held | 2004–2011 |
Ms Gail Hurley | 2002–2004 |
Mr Raf De Zutter | 1994–2002 |
Partnership with CEV is open to any stakeholder that is willing to support CEV and its mission to contribute to the creation of an enabling political, social and economic environment for volunteering in Europe and where the full potential of volunteering can be realised.
Whilst a network itself CEV is also actively involved at European level and in international networks. CEV is a member of: EESC Liaison Group for European Civil Society, Expert Group on the Mobility of Young Volunteers, European Qualifications Framework Advisory Group, European Alliance for Volunteering, Europe Plus, Civil Society Europe, The Conference of INGOs of the Council of Europe, Impact2030.
Source: [18]
- The value of quality volunteering as an expression of Solidarity and European values is understood, supported and celebrated
- Policies & programmes, together with the European social environment, inspires, encourages and supports quality European Volunteering
- Individuals and organisations that are active in the volunteering and civil society sphere share, learn and are inspired from one another in the framework of CEV
- CEV is a well-run and effective organisation
In 2013 European Year of Citizens, CEV launched the European Volunteering Capital Competition. [19] This initiative aims to promote volunteering at the local level by giving recognition to municipalities that support and strengthen partnerships with volunteer centres and volunteer involving organisations and celebrate and promote volunteering and the impact made by volunteers.
EVEN [20] currently has 10 corporate members: Fundacion Telefónica, Intel, FASVOL, Fundacion Repsol, IBERDROLA, ArcelorMittal, IBM, The Moody's Foundation, Cooperatie VGS, Kellogg's and 43 volunteer involving organisations in membership.
EVEN was established by European Volunteer Centre (CEV) in 2013. This initiative aims to increase the number of employers and volunteer-involving organisations with the capacity and willingness to implement good quality employee volunteering and give greater visibility to these initiatives.
Employee Volunteering European Network (EVEN) main objectives are:
The CEV-EVEN Workbook, a toolkit to help volunteer-involving organisations develop employee volunteering, (in EN & translations) [22] can be downloaded from its website. [23]
WISH (Welcome, Integration & Support Hub for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Europe) is an ESC project launched in October 2018 after the CEV General Assembly. The aim of the project is to create an online platform (WISH) mapping the initiatives that offer support to migrants in Europe. This will enable refugees and asylum seekers to find sources of support and assistance, and will help the various European volunteering initiatives to provide better information and to facilitate communication between themselves and the people they wish to help.
Tandem was set up to help and support refugees and asylum-seekers residing in Belgium. The project aims to facilitate their opportunities to contribute to the community, and support the restoration of their dignity and autonomy through initially short-term volunteer placements at different organisations. Tandem also aims to bring the direct experience of individual refugees and asylum-seekers and the challenges facing them into NGOs. These organisations are often concerned about the situation of refugees and asylum-seekers but may not have identified opportunities to support directly individuals in their local areas
CEV is a partner in the following projects working towards a better recognition of volunteering: CIVCIL Project, I’VE Experienced Project, LEVER Project, DESTEVA Project, GR-EAT Project, EURAVON Project, VAPOVO Project, VOLCAR Project, EVS Realm. Read more about CEV's projects here:
Source: [8]
CEV General Assemblies and Conferences:
2020 - Online due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, however originally intended to be in Padova, Italy
2020 - Online due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, however originally intended to be in Galway Ireland.
2019 - Brussels, Belgium
2019 - Budapest (Hungary)
2018 - Brussels, Belgium
2018 - Rijeka (Croatia)
2017 - Vienna, Austria
2017 - London, UK
2016 - Brussels, Belgium
2016 - Bucharest (Romania)
2015 Brussels, Belgium (After Zadar)
Zadar 2015
Turin 2014
Brussels 2014
Sarajevo 2013
Dublin 2013
Portugal 2012
Copenhagen 2012
Berlin 2011
Tallinn 2011
Brussels 2010
Valencia 2010
CEV hosts annual Study visits, [53] often inviting participants from various member organisations into Brussels and offering the chance to experience the work CEV does first hand. These visits allow participants to become more informed on volunteering policies, programmes and practices within the context of the EU and European Union institutions. Participants, accompanied by CEV staff, had the chance to visit the main European Institution, to connect with EU Officials and MEPs, as well as get in contact with the representatives of civil society organisations. They were also introduced to CEV's activities and engagement in promoting volunteering across Europe.
Previous study visits have invited participants from Volunteering England (UK), ProVobis (Romania), Volunteer Centres Ireland (Ireland), La Plateforme Francophone du Volontariat (Belgium) and participants from Italian CSVnet (Coordinamento Nazionale dei Centri di Servizio per il Volontariato) member organisations (CSVs) located in different regions (Lombardia, Piemonte, Sicily, Veneto and Emilia Romagna).
The 2020 Study visit was due to take place in Padova, European Volunteering Capital 2020, as part of the CEV Autumn congress, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic the congress was moved online and the study visit was no longer possible.
CEV also frequently hosts and contributes to various seminars, conferences, and policy discussion roundtables in order to share best practice, information and research on volunteering, and to represent the volunteer sector in EU policy consultations. During 2020, in order to maintain this despite the COVID-19 Pandemic, many of these seminars moved from in presence discussions to online, digital webinars.
Some of these seminars in recent years have included:
-April 2016 - The Volunteer Manager: Key for Excellency in Volunteer Management, Bucharest (Romania)
-April 2017 - Developing European Volunteering Strategies, London (UK)
-9-20 April 2018- Volunteering in Culture, Rijeka (Croatia)
-21 November 2019: European Conference - Impact and lessons of ESC - Legal status, traditions and cultures of Volunteering and Solidarity in Europe, Brussels (Belgium)
-8 October 2019 : 'Solidarity and Volunteering - European Rights and Values from the bottom up', European Volunteering Capital Seminar during EU Regions
-30 January 2020: Volunteering Interest Group in the European Parliament
-19 February 2020: SDG Watch Europe General Assembly
-15 April 2020: European Solidarity Corps Stakeholder meeting (Online)
-19 June 2020: Webinar: Volunteering in events and how to keep solidarity at the heart of it
-24 July 2020: Webinar: Volunteering in Post COVID-19 Crisis: What now?
"CEV News" [54] is a monthly newsletter providing information on CEV activities, CEV members' projects, EU policies and relevant calls for proposals, events and any other relevant information for volunteer stakeholders within the CEV membership and beyond.
CEV serves as a knowledge and research resource for volunteering, funding opportunities and practice in Europe. CEV regularly publishes documents including conference conclusions, annual reports and other policy statements. Wider selection of published research and resources in relation to volunteering can be found on its website. [55]
The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as listed in the Treaty on European Union. It is one of two legislative bodies and together with the European Parliament serves to amend and approve or veto the proposals of the European Commission, which holds the right of initiative.
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of 4,233,255.3 km2 (1,634,469.0 sq mi) and an estimated total population of nearly 447 million. The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union, it adopts European legislation, following a proposal by the European Commission. The Parliament is composed of 705 members (MEPs). It represents the second-largest democratic electorate in the world, with an electorate of 375 million eligible voters in 2009.
The European Commission (EC) is part of the executive of the European Union (EU), together with the European Council. It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.
The Western European Union was the international organisation and military alliance that succeeded the Western Union (WU) after the 1954 amendment of the 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU implemented the Modified Brussels Treaty. During the Cold War, the Western Bloc included the WEU member states and the United States and Canada as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) is a consultative body of the European Union (EU) established in 1958. It is an advisory assembly composed of "social partners", namely: employers, employees and representatives of various other interests. Its seat, which it shares with the Committee of the Regions, is the Jacques Delors building on Belliardstraat / Rue Belliard 99 in Brussels. Once known by the acronym "EcoSoc", the body is now referred to as the "EESC", to avoid confusions with the United Nations ECOSOC.
The Treaty of Paris was signed on 18 April 1951 between France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which subsequently became part of the European Union. The treaty came into force on 23 July 1952 and expired on 23 July 2002, exactly fifty years after it came into effect.
The European Cooperative Society is, in corporate law, a European cooperative type of company, established in 2006 and related to the Societas Europaea (SE). They may be established and may operate throughout the European Economic Area. The legal form was created to remove the need for cooperatives to establish a subsidiary in each member state of the European Union in which they operate, and to allow them to move their registered office and headquarters freely from one member state to another, keeping their legal identity and without having to register or wind up any legal persons. No matter where they are established, SCEs are governed by a single EEA-wide set of rules and principles which are supplemented by the laws on co-operatives in each member state, and other areas of law.
The Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, formerly known as the European Community Humanitarian Aid Office, is the European Commission's department for overseas humanitarian aid and for civil protection. It aims to save and preserve life, prevent and alleviate human suffering and safeguard the integrity and dignity of populations affected by natural disasters and man-made crises. Since September 2019, Janez Lenarčič is serving as Commissioner for Crisis Management in the Von der Leyen Commission.
The European Defence Agency (EDA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) that promotes and facilitates integration between member states within the EU's Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The EDA is headed by the High Representative (HR/VP), and reports to the Council. The EDA was established on 12 July 2004 and is based in the Kortenberg building in Brussels, Belgium, along with a number of other CSDP bodies.
In the European Union education is at the responsibility of its Member States and their Ministries of education that they have; in such, the European Union institutions play only a supporting and overseeing role. According to Art. 165 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the Community
shall contribute to the development of quality education by encouraging cooperation between Member States, through actions such as promoting the mobility of citizens, designing joint study programmes, establishing networks, exchanging information or teaching languages of the European Union. The Treaty also contains a commitment to promote life-long learning for all citizens of the Union.
The European Union Agency for Cybersecurity – self-designation ENISA from the abbreviation of its original name – is an agency of the European Union. It is fully operational since September 1, 2005. The Agency is located in Athens, Greece and has a second office in Heraklion, Greece.
The European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises or SMEunited is an umbrella group for associations of SMEs based in Brussels, Belgium. SMEunited represents the interests of European crafts, trades and SMEs at EU level. Its 67 member organisations from 34 European countries consist of national cross-sectorial SME federations, European branch federations and other associate members. Its members combined represent more than 12 million enterprises, which employ around 50 million people across Europe. SMEunited is a recognised European Social Partner.
ENTSO-E, the European Network of Transmission System Operators, represents 39 electricity transmission system operators (TSOs) from 35 countries across Europe, thus extending beyond EU borders. ENTSO-E was established and given legal mandates by the EU's Third Package for the Internal energy market in 2009, which aims at further liberalising the gas and electricity markets in the EU.
Brussels (Belgium) is considered the de facto capital of the European Union, having a long history of hosting a number of principal EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital but Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission, Council of the European Union, and European Council, as well as a seat of the European Parliament. In 2013, this presence generated about €250 million and 121,000 jobs. The main rationale for Brussels being chosen as "capital the European Union" was its halfway location between France and Germany, the two countries whose rivalry played a role in starting the two World Wars and whose reconciliation paved the way for European integration.
A European Documentation Centre (EDC) is a body designated by the European Commission to collect and disseminate publications of the European Union for the purposes of research and education. There are 400 such centers in all member states of the EU. The mandate of an EDC is to receive all official EU publications, documents, contracts and electronic databases then make them available to researchers, educators, students, and interested members of the general public. The centers are also legal depositories of Acquis communautaire (EU law). Although primarily academic in nature, anyone can visit an EDC to consult official EU publications.
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU). It was previously known as the Treaty Establishing the European Community (TEC).
Model European Union Strasbourg (MEUS) is the original simulation of the European Union's legislative process organised by BETA France. It was initiated in the spring of 2007 by a group of university students and gathers around 180 young people from across Europe in the Seat of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France annually.
The European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education is an independent organisation that acts as a platform for collaboration for its 31 member countries, working towards ensuring more inclusive education systems. The Agency's mission is to help member countries improve the quality and effectiveness of their inclusive provision for all learners.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)