World Volunteer Leaders to Meet On Gold Coast

The sunny Gold Coast is set to welcome 1,000 delegates from across the world for the 23rd IAVE World Volunteer Conference on September 15 to 20.

This is only the second time in 44 years that Australia will play host to the international event.

The conference which is organised by the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and hosted by Volunteering Australia, the national peak body for volunteering, will be one of the highlights for volunteering leaders and organisations this year.

“It is critical that we keep working both nationally as well as globally to strengthen, promote and advance volunteering. And we have put together a fantastic line up of speakers representing around 40 countries at the conference to help us work toward this goal,” IAVE’s World President-Elect, Kylee Bates said.

Bates is only the second Australian to take on this role as President-Elect.

The conference theme is Volunteering – Today’s Imperative and will not only focus on current models of volunteering but more importantly the future of volunteering.

“It is amazing to see that although we may be divided geographically and come from a diversity of cultures and traditions, we are united in our belief in the power of volunteering and the positive impact it has in each of our societies,” CEO of Volunteering Australia, Brett Williamson, OAM said.

The event will consist of two separate conferences:

1.      IAVE World Youth Conference will be held at the Watermark Hotel Gold Coast from 15 – 17 September 2014

2.      23rd IAVE World Volunteer Conference will be held at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre  from 17 to 20 September 2014

The conference will also showcase six key interactive forums as follows:

• Volunteering and Disasters: A Dialogue

• The Role of Government in Supporting Volunteering

• Volunteering and Advocacy: Challenging the Status Quo

• Youth, Employment and Volunteering

• The World's atwitter: Volunteering and Social media

• Volunteering in a Post-2015 World

The conference will feature both international as well as local speakers and panellists from government, academia, corporate and not for profits. The Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove and Lady Cosgrove will be guests of honour at the conference gala dinner on 17 September. Full conference details are available on www.iave2014.org

The IAVE World Volunteer Conference is organised in partnership with the Department of Social Services, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Attorney General’s Department Emergency Management Australia, Tourism and Events Queensland as well as local and global sponsors.