6.4.2022
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
C 152/25
4.10.
The EESC believes that the younger the age at which people can be introduced to volunteering, the more likely it is that they will grow into socially included and engaged adults doing their bit for the future of Europe.
Initiatives such as service-learning programmes in schools and family volunteering should be encouraged.
If necessary, legal frameworks should be adapted to make it possible for younger people and children to also volunteer.
Youth organisations play a very important role in this process and should therefore receive suitable and sufficient support from public authorities.
5.
The role of volunteers in the community 5.1.
There is no doubt that volunteers create substantial economic, environmental and social value.
In non-profit organisations volunteers are often essential to ensure effective fulfilment of tasks, being one of the most important resources of these organisations.
They are frequently recognised by the outside world as a symbol of those entities’ activities.
For many, especially young people, volunteering is something special.
It is often the first activity in which they are empowered to respond to real social needs and able to quickly see the effects of their actions as engaged citizens, significantly reducing the risk of social exclusion.
5.2.
In many cases it is becoming legally more difficult for citizens to organise around issues of common concern and so engage people as volunteers contributing to society without seeking personal gain.
The rights of association and public funding and support for civil society organisations should be ensured.
The EESC underlines that public funding for civil society organisations contributes greatly not only to their function and role in society but to maintaining their independence and ability to ensure internal democratic processes that allow the wishes of their members to be recognised and represented without outside interference.
5.2.1.
A well-functioning civil society is a sign of a healthy democracy and contributes greatly to quality of life and peace and stability.
Participatory democracy is complementary to representative democracy and not a threat.
5.2.2.
In the case of organisations coordinating the activities of volunteers, public funding allows much greater benefits to be obtained for society, benefits that have real economic value, through a specific leverage mechanism.
5.3.
People in Europe are now increasingly likely to commit to short-term volunteering activities, often with a clear personal gain, e.g. volunteering at a festival or concert, rather than making a long-term commitment to address an identified societal need.
The EESC would like policy-makers to do more to promote the added value of volunteering as social capital and not simply as a personal opportunity or mechanism for saving on human resource costs.
Public authorities must help volunteers and the organisations supporting their activities to better demonstrate their value and impact in order to continue to attract volunteers as citizens are confronted with ever-increasing choice in how they use their free time.
5.4.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many policy-makers and ordinary citizens have been able to see the particular potential and real impact of volunteering — both structured activities, coordinated by a public institution or organisation, and individual ad hoc activities, undertaken spontaneously based on a wish to help out.
The EESC paid tribute to hundreds of thousands of volunteers across Europe who assisted people in need in 2020 due to the pandemic by awarding its Civil Solidarity Prize (15) to organisations and individuals engaged in voluntary activities linked to the impact of COVID-19.
5.5.
Workers with less regular hours and less stable working lives find it more difficult to make long-term commitments to volunteering.
For example, shop workers only told with 24 hours’ notice if they need to work find it exceedingly difficult to commit to volunteering.
The same also applies, for example, to many on-call workers.
The EESC points out that volunteering organisations should be supported by know-how, including good practices, about building extra capacity to deal with this changing availability of potential volunteers and develop new ways of managing volunteers.
5.6.
Social prescribing (16) is a means of tackling poor health without, or alongside, the prescription of pharmaceutical drugs.
Volunteering has become an efficient and increasingly popular part of social prescribing schemes.
Research proves that volunteering has a positive impact on mental health and that to participate in volunteering activities in the framework
(15) (16)
EESC Civil Solidarity Prize.
The Healing Power of Social Prescribing and Policy Statement on Volunteering & Social Prescribing — CEV 2019.