Sixth Session of the EUV 2011, Basel, Switzerland
Volunteer work between freedom and professionalism
"Volunteer work between freedom and professionalism". The International Year of Volunteers 2001+10 marked the end of a decade during which a lot of progress has been made in the field of volunteerism. There is a lot of research among volunteering and also the perception of volunteers and their management has changed within non-profit organizations. Frequently expressed reasons for this are professional trends, recruitment difficulties, increased expectations of volunteers and changed service offerings. While many places complain about a decline of volunteers, there is an increase in commitment elsewhere. Tensions arising between paid staff and volunteers, especially in the social care sector (and elsewhere) were studied, looking at fears of employees with regards to the reduction of jobs, on one hand, and overload of volunteers, on the other. These have both been identified as challenges for the successful design of volunteer programs. There are fears among employees of being replaced by "cheap" volunteers. These developments make it clear that volunteering is today in a tension between professionalization, on the one hand, and freedom, on the other.
Organizers: CEPS (Center for Philanthropy Studies) of University of Basel, Schweizerische Gemeinnützige Gesellschaft, Christoph Merian Stiftung Basel, Evang.ref. und röm.kath. Kirchen, BaselStadt, Röm.kath. Kirche Baselland, Präsidialdepartement des Kantons BaselStadt, ICVolunteers joined forces to carry out the EUV 2011.
Speakers: Dr. Guy Morin, Dr. Herbert Ammann, Joel Sames, Niggi Freundlieb, Dr. Goerg von Schnurrbein, Prof. Dr. Annemarie Pieper, Jean-Daniel Gerber, Peter Felber, among others.
Program of the 6th EUV convention in Basel, German version
