International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development

by Denise Hayward, Chief Executive, Volunteer Now

2026 has been designated as the UN International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development.  The key focus for the year is a global call to action to champion volunteering, to enable volunteering to make a difference and to see significant financial investment in volunteering.  Almost 70 countries has already signed up.  We know how important volunteering is to many people and the difference it makes, so we need to seize the opportunity to enhance the focus on it through the UN Year.

Volunteer Now will be engaging with members as part of our conference on 6 June to help shape the response to the Year across Northern Ireland.  So please come along to make your voice heard and to hear from our keynote speaker Chris Wade.

We will also be establishing a small working group to help us plan the Year.  If you would like to take part in the working group, please email denise.hayward@volunteernow.co.uk to express an interest.

In the meantime, if you can take a few minutes to complete the International Association for Volunteering Effort global survey to help shape the future of volunteering, then you can do so here.