Contributing to the Global Research Agenda on Volunteering for Peace and Development

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Discussion

Abstract

Volunteering is recognized as a cross-cutting means of implementation for the global 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development; however, there remains a major demand for empirical evidence to document its value and challenge (Seelig & Lough, 2015). Collaboration on a global research agenda provides a framework through which stakeholders, including academia, can work together to leverage the full potential of volunteering through more effective measurement, research, and articulation of the benefits and drawbacks of volunteering for sustainable peace and development.

Given the universal nature of Agenda 2030, it requires research collaboration across common divides – between researchers working at either national or international levels including high, middle and low income countries (Devereux et al, 2017). As one component of this research agenda, United Nations Resolution 70/129 encourages academia take stock of existing data, identify best practices, and locate weaknesses and evidence gaps to strengthen global knowledge on volunteering as a key means of strengthening peace and development (UNGA, 2015).

As part of the global research agenda, participants at the proposed roundtable will discuss how better evidence might be obtained to address the following questions:
• From a conceptual or theoretical perspective, what value does volunteerism contribute to the development process and its outcomes?
• How far has the field progressed with volunteer measurement? What approaches and methodologies are being used to understand and measure the scale and scope of volunteering?
• What key enabling or disabling factors affect how volunteerism can contribute to peace and development? How well are these documented?
• What successful innovations for measuring and researching volunteering can be scaled-up? What is distinctive about how these innovations have worked in different contexts?
• What steps are roundtable participants willing to take to help build the evidence base?
Holding a scholarly roundtable with researchers engaged with these concerns is an important step for enhancing the theoretical and empirical basis informing volunteering as a critical people-centred development strategy for Agenda 2030.

References

Devereux, P., Paull, M. Hawkes, M., & Georgeou, N. (2017). Volunteering and the UN sustainable development goals: Finding common ground between national and international volunteering agendas? Third Sector Review (23)1, 2017: 209-234.
Seelig, V. J., & Lough, B. J. (2015). Strategic directions for global research on volunteering for peace and sustainable development. (CSD Workshop Report No. 15-45). St. Louis, MO: Washington University, Center for Social Development.
UNGA. Integrating volunteering into peace and development: The plan of action for the next decade and beyond. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 17 December 2015, Pub. L. No. United Nations General Assembly A/RES/70/129 (2015).

Sub Unit

• The Third Sector and Development

Presenters

• Cliff Allum, University of Birmingham

• Peter Devereux, Curtin University

• Rebecca Tiessen, University of Ottawa

Session Organizer

• Benjamin J. Lough, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign