Between July 13–19, Tanya participated in the training “Decolonise Together – Advocating for Youth Engagement” in Brussels, Belgium.

The training focused on how we could convey the IVS networks' message that international volunteering should become more fair and inclusive in line with the policy document ”Decolonising the Funding Mechanisms of European Union Youth Programmes” developed by the International Cultural Youth Exchange (ICYE), which organised the training.

Some of the things we got to practice were using the storytelling method in advocacy, creating a trusting conversation, and writing different types of texts that can be used in advocacy, such as petitions. We also got to meet other activists from different networks and organisations such as Quest and Alliance, as well as people in different EU institutions, to get a better understanding of how we can influence them on our issues and how we can collaborate. Above all, the days consisted of thought-provoking and inspiring conversations with the participants in the training who came from different IVS networks and from different countries around the world. Now we will follow up the training with a communications group and a fact-finding group that will work together on different types of advocacy, with the hope that decision-makers at the EU level understand the importance of what we want to achieve.

The EU budget and the future of volunteering

Concretely, the EU could support a fairer and more inclusive volunteering by providing more funding for Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps and broadening the scope of the programmes to also include youth organisations from the global majority, both in decision-making processes and in their opportunities to take part in the programmes. These decisions need to be taken right now, as the EU’s Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) is being decided, which will provide direction for the EU for the next 7 years.

According to the European Commission's first draft of the budget presented on 16 July, it looks like there will be an increase in funds for the programmes from 26.2 to 40.8 billion euros, which can be read as positive news. European Youth Forum has criticised the proposal and believes, among other things, that the increase will not be as high as it seems if inflation is taken into account and if it is taken into account that the increase is a merger of Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps, which previously had separate budgets. Therefore, active advocacy is still needed for the budget to truly provide the conditions for fair and inclusive volunteering that can reach young people in Europe and beyond.

How you can support fairer volunteering

Would you like to join us in supporting our work to make international volunteering more inclusive and fair? There are a few different ways you can do it!

• Become a member of IAL. We will continue to work for this change and the more voices we represent, the more weight our words have.
• Contact members of the European Parliament or the Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF), who in Sweden are responsible for these programs, and tell us what you think, either as an individual or as part of an organization that represents more voices. These are the actors who will now be able to participate in negotiating how the budget will develop.

Together we can ensure that more people experience the magic of international volunteering and intercultural encounters and the difference it can make in communities, without being based on old colonial ideas and patterns. As Lilla Watson, Murri, visual artist, activist and academic said: “If you have come here to help me you are wasting your time, but if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

This is the time to work together, for now and for the future.