Volunteering NZ acts as a National Representative of the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) aiming to:

• Promote IAVE as a worldwide leadership organisation for volunteering
• Serve as a representative and advocate for IAVE in New Zealand
• Act as a main point of contact for IAVE and IAVE members in New Zealand
• Support and develop IAVE membership in New Zealand
• Build  New Zealand contacts for IAVE in other key agencies and organisations
• Encourage active participation in IAVE regional and world conferences

IAVE exists to promote, strengthen and celebrate the development of volunteering worldwide. It is the only international organisation for which this is the primary aim.

IAVE is best known for its biennial World Volunteer Conferences and affiliated Youth Volunteer Conferences. The world conferences have run in an unbroken sequence since 1970. These are major events in the world of volunteering, attracting a global audience, distinguished speakers and skilled and experienced workshop presenters. IAVE members in individual countries bid to run the conference, with the result that the conference moves around the world.

Another IAVE initiative is the Youth Office in Catalonia which  is the principal point of reference for the promotion and recognition of youth volunteering. It was founded in 2007, to promote volunteer actions that encourage society to recognize the important role youth volunteering plays in social, human and economic development.

The Office facilitates cooperation among youth, non-profit organizations, companies and public institutions interested in promoting volunteer culture. The Office is managed by a non-profit organization, Fundació Catalunya Voluntària, and is endorsed and partially sponsored by the Government of Catalonia and the “la Caixa” Foundation.

In 2006 IAVE launched Global Corporate Volunteer Council (G-CVC) - a network for leaders of international employee volunteer programs. It aims to showcase good and promising practices in corporate volunteering, and raise awareness of the impact of employee engagement in communities around the world. The G-CVC provides resources to inspire, support and encourage opportunities for collaboration between companies as well as partnerships between business, governments and NGOs.

In 2001, the UN International Year of the Volunteer, the IAVE World Volunteer Conference, held in Amsterdam in January 2001, was officially recognised as the opening event of the year. The Universal Declaration on Volunteering (Click here to download, 26KB) was adopted at the Conference. IAVE members all round the world played an important part in the Year’s events in their country, and one of the closing events of the Year was an IAVE International Youth Conference held in Japan. Preparations are under way for IYV+10 in 2011.

In recent years IAVE has been responding to changes in the world of volunteering by positioning itself as a key leadership body for the development of volunteering, building a more strategic role, whilst at the same time remaining a membership organisation, connected through its membership to volunteering interests at grassroots, national and global levels. This wider vision was given expression in a Strategic Plan for the period 2002 -06. The new plan, for 2007-10, was agreed at the Board meeting in November 2006.