Visualising Volunteerism

With lessons learnt, bonds formed and action plans started last March 2011 during the V Forum, time warranted for another round of discussions, mingling and sharing to take place. A follow-up event, the V Workshop, was therefore organised by the IYV+10 National Steering Committee on 14th June. The V Workshop had the additional objective of preparing the ground for the establishment of the upcoming IYV+10 Provincial Sub-Committees.

Mr. Kirby de Lanerolle, Adviser to the Minister of Social Services, delivered a captivating and inspiring welcome speech followed by a brief introduction to the workshop. The audience was then taken through the major landmarks in the journey of IYV+10 in Sri Lanka with a presentation by Mr. Fadhil Bakeer Markar, the IYV+10 National Coordinator, and a slideshow capturing the spirit of the March V Forum.

Following were the group sessions, each tackling a different theme: education, health, poverty and environment, to map out related volunteer activities in the 9 provinces and 24 districts. The underlying idea was to identify stakeholders from different parts of the country, and the potential partnerships that could be built Island-wide. The result was a colourful visual mapping of volunteer-involving activities providing an easy-to-grasp overview of organizations and activities’ geographical distribution based on participants’ inputs.

Group sessions ended on a positive note with participants having learnt a lot about each other’s work, and the emergence of partnerships particularly in the Education and Environment groups. Many of the outcomes achieved during the V Workshop are now being used for yet another IYV+10 significant event, the preparatory meeting for the Launch of IYV+10 Provincial Sub-Committees scheduled for 23 June 2011.

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