Volunteering
Volunteering can take many forms, and the volunteering sector in the various EU Member States can be very complex. Some European countries, for instance, have created a special legal status for volunteer activity, while elsewhere volunteering falls under the regulatory scope of general legislation. There are also some Member States currently in the process of developing a special legal framework for volunteering. Knowledge about the current status of volunteering policies in other EU Member States is an important basis for European dialogue. Monitoring current trends and initiatives as they affect the conditions of volunteer work and analysing effective legal arrangements that are already in place can also create new impulses for us here in Germany.
Our publications provide further information on volunteering:
This article provides an overview of the national differences concerning volunteering in the EU. It highlights e.g. different volunteering traditions and different volunteer rates in Europe. A special section of this articles deals with volunteering by and for families.
For further information on the Familyplatform, see this website.
Volunteering in the Member States of the European Union - Evaluation and Summary of Current Studies
Working Paper No. 5, Annette Angermann, Birgit Sittermann, 11/2010
What do we know about volunteering in other EU member states? This is the question the two authors try to answer in this Observatory Working Paper by evaluating current studies on volunteering in Europe. The paper highlights e.g. the national differences in the volunteer rate.
Volunteering in the European Union - An Overview
Working Paper No. 2, Annette Angermann, Birgit Sittermann, 08/2010
Is volunteering an issue in EU policy? In fact, volunteering is on the EU agenda even outside the European Year of Volunteering as this Observatory Working Paper shows. It provides an overview of different EU programmes dealing with volunteers and of the different aspects of volunteering discussed at EU level.
