02 April 2008

San Salvador, El Salvador: UNV is promoting the role of volunteerism for development in Latin American countries, in preparation for the Ibero-American Summit in October. The assembly of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal will address the theme of 'Youth'.

At the first preparatory meeting held during April 2008 in San Salvador, El Salvador, UNV addressed the round-table sessions on volunteerism. The team explored how volunteers can contribute to the rights and empowerment of youth across the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world.

UNV also contributed to discussions on the importance of youth volunteerism for development. It was presented as a means of contributing to the social inclusion of youth, generating identity, and increasing young peoples' skills and capacities.

The participants saw a clear role for volunteerism in youth strategies, and also understood volunteering's role in providing an acceptable, attractive and useful way to promote youth involvement.

However, UNV stressed to the delegates that in some areas there is currently a lack of recognition and incentives for volunteering, and often inadequate information on where or how to volunteer. The team spoke of the need for sustained and flexible programmes adjusted to meet the interests of young people, and emphasised the urgency of getting the most excluded and vulnerable youth groups involved.

UNV focused on: the need to build an international framework that encourages governments to promote citizen involvement and specifically youth participation; volunteerism's contribution in guaranteeing Ibero-American youth rights (as stated in different international conventions as well as national youth legislation and programmes);  the relevance of and need to include volunteerism as a basic element for youth policies and programmes; lessons learned on youth volunteerism; and concrete proposals for governments.

In addition, UNV also provided a relevant bibliography to help design the main publication for this preparatory meeting, titled 'Situación y desafíos de la juventud en Iberoamérica' (The situation and challenges for youth in Ibero-America).

Among the other proposals considered at the San Salvador meeting were the fostering of university volunteering programmes and student exchanges, both within the participating countries and between them.

The Ibero-American Summit is an annual event that brings together heads of state from Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking nations from both sides of the Atlantic. Several more pre-summit meetings will be held during 2008, at which volunteering will be further considered as part of the strategy for youth.