Category Archives: European Year of Volunteering

Digital/social media, EC in UK, European Year of Active Ageing, European Year of Volunteering

Completing the move. Almost.

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So I now seem to have managed to do an almost complete import of the old blog onto this platform, which is great. Some images seem not to have made the move, but I’m not sure it’s worth fixing that until I need to on a case-by-case basis. So now it feels like the boxes are unpacked and I can enjoy the new place.

I was pleasantly surprised to be mentioned in Ron Patz’s post today about women Euro-bloggers, as I don’t write half as much as I a) used to and b) would like to. Some of a) is about the fact that I changed job, and also that we got better at a Rep level – the creation of the Euromyths blog on the Rep website replaced the subject that dominated my early posts. Twitter is a better place for bringing people’s attention to interesting links or items. And my focus is much less political these days – I’m dealing with schools and information networks and things like that, not the stories dominating the headlines. Which is not to say that what I do now is not important – on the contrary, I think it’s importance is undervalued (though I guess I would say that, wouldn’t I!). So I will continue to write about what I do when I can and hopefully that will be interesting to at least some of you out there.

So what am I doing? The next thing that I’m quite excited about is our Spring Online day next Friday. As part of the Digital Unite Spring Online campaign and taking into account this year’s focus on Active Ageing, we are going to host a digital clinic here in Europe House with about 50 older people from across London. Volunteers from this office and the Department of Work and Pensions will help them with their digital queries from sending a text message to setting up a skype account. We’ll have Kindles, iPads and Wiis to demonstrate. The whole thing should be useful and fun and I’m really looking forward to it!

European Year of Volunteering

Volunteering – it’s not as hard as you think

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The European Year of Volunteering tour came to the UK last week, and took up residence in the Coin Street Community Centre. While there I spoke to Stephen Crocker, who ran the Leeds City Council initiative to have a Leeds Year of Volunteering in 2010. He tells me why he thinks more local councils and authorities should do the same in their area, to increase the appreciation of and involvement in volunteering.

Thanks to the tour event I’m now pursuing two very exciting volunteering activities, so thanks EYV!

EC in UK, Europe Direct, European Year of Volunteering, Regions

Heading out to the country

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I spent several days last week out of the office, which is going to be the great bit about the new job (getting out there and meeting real people, that is, rather than not being in the office…!)

I started in Durham, speaking at an event on Europe in My Region, hosted by the Europe Direct there. It was very interesting talking to people who are actually implementing programmes using EU funds, mainly from the European Regional Development Fund and European Social Fund, though also the Science and Research Framework Programme and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme. The problems seem to be (unsurprisingly) finding the match funding, especially as potential government programmes that could provide match funding have different entry criteria. One woman even raised a problem I had never heard – that big companies were having trouble accessing ERDF funds. In all the years I’ve worked with EU funding programmes, I have never heard any complaint about big companies!

The next day I was in Leeds visiting our Europe Direct Centre there, as I am now responsible for the overall management of the Europe Direct Centres in the UK. It was a real eye-opener. I have been in touch with them quite a bit as they’re very up on the whole social media thing. But I was really impressed with how integrated they are with the general Leeds Library Service and how they have managed to create a lot of demand for their services, through roadshows in branch libraries, connections with schools and getting out and about at public events. I also met the guy dealing with volunteering at the City Council and the head of the Volunteer Centre Leeds, as they have done loads of work around the European Year of Volunteering. It’s good news that they are hoping to be in London for the European Year of Volunteering Tour later in the year.

The final stop on my trip was Coventry, to speak at an event on Zero Waste. Do you have any idea how interesting waste policy is? And how important? The event went from the political/administrative, like Caroline Spelman and to a much lesser extent me, the people dealing with it, such as Biffa, EOn and Severn Trent Water and then zero waste campaigners. I went to the workshop on local authorities and it was impressive how passionate people get about their local waste policy. A real learning process – and I’ll be much more careful with my household waste as a result!

European Year of Volunteering

Do you know an active citizen?

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Volonteurope, which promotes voluntary action throughout the EU as a mechanism for Active European Citizenship, has announced that nominations are open for its 2011 Active Citizens of Europe award. Of course this has extra resonance in this, the European Year of Volunteering.

They say:

We are looking for nominations from across Europe for individual volunteers, NGOs and corporate organisations with great CSR programmes, who have proved to be outstanding pioneers and ambassadors for voluntary action and Active Citizenship.

You can download the nomination form here: ACE 2011 Nomination Form

 

EU Careers, European Year of Volunteering

More EU Careers stuff

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I said I would blog about the event last week that launched the FCO’s EU Careers month, but time sort of got away with me and with the meeting of all Representation Press Officers in Brussels last week, I didn’t get a chance to get round to it. The event was broadly similar to the 18 October event that I have already written about, but the difference was that this focused a bit more on people who already have a career, whether in the public or private sector and who might be looking for a change. I spoke to some very interesting people who in my opinion would be an asset to the Commission. I hope the event, and the accompanying website,  will encourage them to apply. If you want a good laugh at my expense, see if you can find my video!

The careers bonanza continues with me doing an event at City University tomorrow and more later in the month. The other big theme of the moment is Volunteering, with this being the designated European Year, so I will try to write about that in the next day or two (promises, promises…)

Coming Week, Digital/social media, EC in UK, European Year of Volunteering

Onward and upward in 2011

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First off, a Happy New Year to all my readers (both of you…)

I was looking back through the blog today looking for a specific post, and it’s obvious that I write much less than I did when I first arrived. Some of that might be personal – less enthusiasm, more of other stuff that gets in the way. But I think to some extent it’s because we’ve developed other digital media channels which do (much better) what this blog was trying to do. The “in the press” section of our Rep website addresses the Euromyths that were a lot of what I did at the beginning. The Facebook page does the more fun stories. The EU and me site has the info about what’s going on, and links to practical sources of information. And I can interact with people via Twitter. So that doesn’t leave me a lot to talk about  here :) I will of course keep writing, and certainly will try to keep up with the Coming Week information about events of specific UK interest. And I will take a particular interest in the European Year of Volunteering and hope to write quite a bit about that.

Have a great 2011!

Update, 17.15 Nice irony that today’s WordPress announcement was about their challenge to blog more often in 2011

EC in UK, European Year of Volunteering, Sports

Seeking Rugby-League-loving Eurogeeks

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How’s this for a great position for some lucky Eurogeek that likes Rugby League? As a former season ticket holder at Quins RL, I’d jump at it if it were compatible with my current functions.

The Board of the Rugby League European Federation (RLEF) is seeking to appoint an Independent Director to assist the Board in the delivery of its Strategic Plan 2011 – 2017.
The RLEF has recently launched its eight-year strategy which is based upon the values of Empowerment, Dynamism and developing a Rugby League Culture. The strategy can be summed up in the phrase “getting more people, playing more Rugby League, more of the time”. Behind that phrase are significant operational plans which are being delivered by a 10-strong team of consultants placed across Europe.
The Board would like to receive applications from candidates with a strong background in any or all of the following disciplines:
• Marketing
• Public Relations
• Commerce
• European Government
• Finance

Successful candidates will be expected to attend Board Meetings, normally three per year, where they will provide help, guidance, advice and support to the Executive team, which is charged with the delivery of the strategy.
It would be an advantage to be able to speak more than one European language.
The position is a voluntary post but reasonable expenses will be met to assist in undertaking the duties. The successful candidate will be appointed initially until August 2012.
Applications should be made in writing, including a letter of application and a current CV, to the RLEF General Manager [if you’re interested, ask me for the contact details].
Closing date for applications is January 10th 2011


EC in UK, European Year of Volunteering

Leeds – city of volunteering

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I was in Leeds yesterday for a conference on the European Year of Volunteering, organised by Leeds City Council. I was invited to give a presentation about the European aspects of the year. But it was just really interesting to be at the event, hearing what Leeds is doing. They had a local year of volunteering in 2010, which is why they are so enthusiastic about the European Year in 2011 and why they did the event. A nice aspect was that they had invited people from the voluntary sector and local administrations of their partner cities, Dortmund, Siegen (both Germany), Lille (France), Brasov (Romania) and Brno (Czech Republic), so it was possible to exchange experiences. One great idea that we heard about in a workshop on corporate volunteering was a website in the Czech republic where companies that would like to donate time can see what NGOs are looking for assistance, say with redecorating their premises. There are some similar services in some areas of the UK, such as Leeds Ahead who were at the conference, but it’s not obvious where to find them. I’d like this office to get into doing something, particularly given the theme of the next European year, but I have no idea how to go about finding an organisation that would like us to help out. If anyone has any pointers for me, that would be great!