The FCV has been invited to participate in the Forum “The Institutionalization of Volunteering”, an event that will take place in Casablanca, Morocco, on December 15th. During International Volunteer Day, the main goal will be create a dialogue among national and international experts in order to boost reflections and the exchange of ideas about a crucial issue such as the institutionalization of volunteering and the creation of volunteer law.

Lluc Martí, coordinator of the program FCV “Active Volunteering”, will be one of the two international guests who will help organizers and participants, representatives of various sectors, to develop the volunteering sphere boosting the efforts for a voluntary law that could be marked as historic.

During the first session of the forum, hosted by the ‘Center Marocain de Volontariat et Citoyenneté’ at the Abdullah Ganoun cultural complex, the current Catalan Volunteering Law will be presented, along with the experience of the United Arab Emirates, as an example of a regulation which reflects some values ​​and principles and configures some rights and duties for entities and volunteers. It can be employed as a valid reference, together with other regulations on a national and international level, to stimulate reflection on the enormous potential that has volunteering as an engine of social, economic, human and environmental development, and on the value of the positive changes it makes wherever it takes place, depending on the needs and specific context in each place.

The forum involves the participation of representatives of the authorities of the Moroccan government, the municipality of Casablanca, the Observatory of Youth of Morocco and organized civil society, which will host and lead the activity.

It will be an occasion to recognize the value and impact of volunteers and volunteer organizations in the daily life of Moroccans, take advantage of existing experiences and dynamics and, as FCV,  helping both entities and authorities in the neighboring country to strengthen a sector that needs to be more recognized and valued, to strengthen its impact on people’s lives.

We hope the new law will foster the promotion of new volunteer programs and projects, which will enhance the dynamism of Moroccan civil society and its capacity to empower the most vulnerable groups, promoting a civic and responsible spirit among young people and other vulnerable groups (important percentage in the Moroccan population).

Along with the Catalan experience, which will serve as a valid reference for the improvement of the recognition of the rights and duties of voluntary persons and entities, the experience of the United Arab Emirates will also be presented as a country devoting renewed efforts to the creation of infrastructures which favor solidarity and civil commitment reflected, for instance, in the organization of the next IAVE World Volunteer Conference in 2020.

FCV