Youth Conference

Date: November 9 - 10, 2006
Venue: Gandhi Darshan
Can you be the change that you wish to see in the world?— Mahatma Gandhi

Youth as Change Agents
Volunteering for Peace in Multicultural Societies :
focusing on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)
The IAVE World Youth Conference which is being held back to back with the XIX IAVE World Volunteer Conference will focus on 'Youth as Change Agents' with a focus on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the overall context of 'Volunteering for Peace in Multicultural Societies'. The Conference looks upon Youth of the World to be Leaders and Change Agents towards a Peaceful, Just and Sustainable World. More...

Volunteerism for Humanism in the New Millennium

The VIIIth IAVE Asia-Pacific Conference on 'Volunteerism for Humanism in the New Millennium', orgaized by People's Institute for Development and Training (PIDT) and United Nations Volunteers-India (UNV-India) attracted a galaxy of volunteer leaders from allover the world including Dr. Kenn Allen, World President, IAVE, Dr. Kang Hyun Lee, Asia-Pacific Coordinator and Vice-President, IAVE, Ms. Margaret Bell Immediate Past President, IAVE, and evergreen 87-year-old Ms. Mary Ripley, the founding mother of IAVE in 1970. Country representatives came from Australia, Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and the host country, India. In all, there were about 200 participants.

The four-day conference included sessions on Volunteering: A Global Perspective in the IYV, Volunteering for Social Change, Enabling Voluneering and Volunteering in Different Countries of Asia-Pacific, and ten parallel sessions on such topics as Problems and Issues for Volunteering, Civil Participation in Volunteering, Coalitions and NetWorks for Volnteering, Volunteering in Disaster Situations, Media and Volunteering, IYV Initiative and Volunteering Under the UN Auspices, Volunteering for Health, Volunteer Management, Volunteering for Human Rights, and Volunteering from the Heart. Delhi Chief Minister, Mrs. Sheila Dikihit, welcomed thp participants to the City and said that "the burgeoning problems of a.mega city like Delhi, with a population of more than 15 million, cannot be solved by the administration alone, however efficient it may be". People themselves need to take a lead, come forward and give a helping hand to the administration, which should enable this. She was happy that IAVE was celebrating volunteering in Delhi where the Government has initiated the Bhagidari scheme wherein people's organizations, resident welfare associations in particular lead by consciouscitizen leaders are encouraged to help in solving the problems of the people. "Time and again we have gone to the people and have not been disappointed, whether we wanted to fight atmospheric and noise pollution or reduce use of plastic bags. Many of the campaigns were led by school children. India has a great tradition of volunteering. The Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, called upon the students to take up relief work at the time of crsis." she concluded.

Ms. Brenda McSweeney, Resident Representative, UNDP and Head of the UN System in Indin talked about the efforts of the UN system in mitigating the suffering from the super cyclone in Orissa and the earthquake in Gujarat. Ms Margaret Bell called volunteerism a tool for humanizing the world. Dr. Jean Dreze called for a focus on economics of volunteering, an area in which not much work has been done, while Ms. Farida Vahedi of Bahai House said volunteers can render significant service to bring about social change.Prof. Daba Norbu, Prof. I Jawaharlal Nehru University said the best effort in any field of life is that which has been done voluntarily.

Mr. N. Radhakrishnan, Secretary, and Gandhian opened that most of the development that has taken place in India is largely because of the proactive role of voluntary organizations. Mr. Avinash Dharmadhikari, Director General, Nehru Yuvak Kendra Sangthan said volunteerism is very much alive in India and there are more than five million youth volunteers working under the Sangthan. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a spiritual leader and founder of the Art of Living Foundation dwelt on the spiritual aspect of volunteeing and said what legislation can not acheive, volunteerism can. Dr. Harish Saxena, "World President. International Youth Hostels Associations said that the Indian Chapter of IAVE has come of age with the successful holding of the Conference.

Dr. Karan Singh (former prince of Kashmir and distinguished parliamentarian) said volunteerism is the need of the hour and suggested that IAVE should take the message of service to the needy, for environment protection, towards religious harmony, in disaster management to create humanism allover the world. Prof. Subhachari Dasgupta, the spirit behind this congregation, India Representative and Governing Board Member IAVE and Chairman, PIDT, the host organization, called upon experienced volunteers to come forward and help awaken the spirit of volunteerism among all sections of civil society in the country. He called upon the need for collaborative supports to enable action.

The outcome of the Conference was the establishment of a broad based platform in India to involve all those interested in volunteering. It was the first time in India that the Government, Civil Society leaders, government, corporate, UN representatives and individuals came together to validate the necessity of volunteer citizens and enable the establishment of an Indian National Volunteer Centre.

For further details please contact pidt@ndf.vsnl.net.in.