Roundtable on Global Volunteering Statistics: Creating and Interpreting Data on the “Invisible Resource”

Session Submission Type: Roundtable Discussion

Abstract

Aims of the roundtable

It has been over twenty years since the first UN methodology for measuring volunteering referred to it as a valuable but as yet “invisible resource” (Dingle, 2001: 7). At present the 2025 UNV State of the World's Volunteerism Report (SWVR) is under preparation, while the International Labor Organization (ILO) has over the years put forward and improved its methodology for internationally comparable volunteering statistics (Salamon, Sokolowski & Haddock, 2011; ILO, 2011; ILO, 2021). This has created an exceptional window of opportunity for concentrating a collaborative effort between academic researchers, practitioners and policy makers to push for solid comparable data and at the same time to discuss the problems and challenges it brings.

The aim of the roundtable is therefore to bring together statisticians and researchers of different disciplines as well as practitioners and public policy makers to discuss how statistics on volunteering are generated, both internationally and in individual countries, and how they are used in public policy making locally and globally. More specifically, the aim is to share the experience with introducing the ILO Manual (ILO 2011; 2021), to debate how to adapt its methodology to country-specific socio-cultural contexts while maintaining cross-country comparability, discuss the advantages of engaging various stakeholders in the process of institutionalization of the volunteering module in the national statistics etc. The discussion will touch methodological issues as well as public policy issues and pave way for future collaboration.

References

Dingle, A. et al. (2001). Measuring volunteering: A practical toolkit. Washington DC and Bonn: Independent Sector and United Nations Volunteers.
ILO (2011). Manual on the Measurement of Volunteer Work. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/---publ/documents/publication/wcms_167639.pdf
ILO (2021). Volunteer work measurement guide. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---stat/documents/publication/wcms_789950.pdf.
Salamon, L.M., Sokolowski, S.W., Haddock, M. (2011). Measuring the economic value of volunteer work globally: Concepts, estimates, and a roadmap to the future. Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics 82(3), 217-252.

Sub Unit

• Measuring Third Sector output and impact

Moderator

• Megan Arrowsmith Haddock, International Society for Third Sector Research

Presenters

• Tapiwa Kamuruko, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme

• Tania Cappadozzi, Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT)

• Ksenija Fonovic, Charles University - CSV Lazio

• Tereza Pospíšilová, Charles University, Faculty of Humanities

• Jakub Dostal, College of Polytechnics Jihlava, Department of Economic Studies