Volunteerism need of the hour

Nethali Struys

A group of 150 participants from different fields to take part:

The major initiative of International year of Volunteers the IYV+10 steering Committee, the Volunteer Forum commenced on Friday at the Galle Face Hotel under the motto "Celebrating the Great Diversity of Volunteers in Sri Lanka".

The event brought together around a group of 150 participants including a range of stakeholders from the private sector, civil society, youth organizations, academia and government, to network inspire, to inspire and foster a national dialogue towards strengthening the volunteerism spirit and actions in Sri Lanka.

The main goals of the event is to help the participants share best practices and creative ideas that help all organizations, network with other volunteer groups and organizations and to be inspired by speakers with messages of personal involvement in social causes and messages of recognition of the value added of volunteerism. The UN Resident Representative Douglas Keh said that the V forum provides a powerful impetus to a year of activities aiming at promoting volunteer ism in Sri Lanka. "We look forward to all of the participants continued involvement throughout the year" he said.

Social Services Minister Felix Perera said "at the core of every unsuccessful government and political career volunteered service has to be the driving force to achieve major change". He further said that voluntarism is a core value that is a necessity to grow towards a culture of honour. I have such people in my ministry.

Project Director training for trusteeship Weeramantry International Centre for Peace Education and Research (WICPER) Neshan Gunesekara spoke on the significance of volunteerisam in post conflict Sri Lanka with an emphasis on the role of young leaders and highlighted the importance of cross cultural understanding for inter communal harmony.

Sri Lanka Cricket Vice Captain Mahela Jayawardena had sent his message in support of volunteerism saying it is the values of volunteering that makes it so powerful and not money, it is not about career and it is not about pleasure or power. It is about the genuine desire to make a difference. It is about doing good.

The event was followed by a work shop on Millennium Development Goals such as poverty, environment , health, education and gender which 191 UN member states have agreed to achieve by the year 2015.