IVCO 2024 Background Paper "Building and Sustaining Connections for Change: Volunteering for Solidarity"

This paper is co-authored by Dervla King and Fiachra Brennan of Comhlámh, and Dr. Bianca Fadel, Sichelesile N. Maxine Mpofu, and Prof Matt Baillie Smith of Northumbria University, and it sets the scene for the 2024 International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations Conference (IVCO 2024).

The paper explores pressing global challenges and the ways in which volunteering can address them by reinforcing solidarity and forging deeper connections between people, organisations, and nations. Amidst unprecedented crises, the paper emphasises the importance of solidarity and deep connections to tackle widening inequalities, environmental threats, and social injustices. Recognising the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the urgency of climate change, it advocates for solidarity-based models grounded in mutual support.