IAVE is delighted that the 27th World Volunteer Conference
will take place in Busan, South Korea, from 22 – 25 October 2024, hosted by
the Busan Metropolitan City Volunteer Centre at BPEX Busan Port International Exhibition and Convention Centre.
We will be returning to South Korea after 22 years; the 2002 IAVE World Volunteer Conference was held in Seoul.
The theme of the 27th IAVE World Volunteer Conference People Power: Creating a Sustainable Future through Volunteering. It recognizes that our world is facing significant challenges not least the issues associated with climate change and highlights the important contribution that volunteers in every community are making to create a better world and a sustainable future for everyone.
The conference will bring volunteer leaders from across South Korea and the international community together to learn from one another in solidarity brought together by their recognition of the value and importance of volunteering. Experiences will be shared, debate will be encouraged, friendships will be made, and participants will leave the conference invigorated and reenergised to do better and do more to support and develop volunteering.
The 27th IAVE World Volunteer Conference and its theme resonate with the current Universal Declaration on Volunteering which states: ‘Volunteering is a fundamental building block of civil society. It brings to life the noblest aspirations of humankind – the pursuit of peace, freedom, opportunity, safety, and justice for all people. In this era of globalization and continuous change, the world is becoming smaller, more interdependent, and more complex.
Volunteering – either through individual or group action – is a way in which:
- Human values of community, caring, and serving can be sustained and strengthened
- Individuals can exercise their rights and responsibilities as members of communities, while learning and growing throughout their lives, realizing their full human potential
- Connections can be made across differences that push us apart so that we can live together in healthy, sustainable communities, working together to provide innovative solutions to our shared challenges and to shape our collective destinies.
Volunteering is an essential element of all societies. It turns into practical, effective action the declaration of the United Nations that “We, the Peoples” have the power to change the world.’
The conference also provides the opportunity for IAVE to refresh and recommit to a new Universal Declaration. We ask that conference participants join us in endorsing a set of values and principles that will underpin our future work as a global volunteering community.
