Kigali Declaration

Volunteer involving organisations’ commitment to advancing quality in volunteering for development.

The International Volunteer Cooperation Organisations’ Conference (IVCO) is the annual conference of the International Forum for Volunteering in Development (Forum).

Delegates of IVCO 2017 made a commitment, the ‘Seoul Call to Action’ to advance good practice in the sector and begin development of standards in volunteering for development.

As a result, Forum led the development of the Global Standard for Volunteering for Development through working with several hundred stakeholders across the volunteering for development sector.

This year, the Kigali Declaration gives delegates of IVCO 2019 and beyond the opportunity to commit to the principles of the Global Standard for Volunteering for Development.

I, the undersigned, commit my organisation to:

1. Accept the following definitions from the Global Standard for Volunteering for Development:

Volunteering for development draws on the skills of volunteers to work alongside people and communities to improve their quality of life and support their own capacities to help address poverty and inequality in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Volunteering for development activities must always aim to be impactful and responsible.

Impactful Volunteering delivers measurable and sustainable improvements for poor and marginalised communities that align to a country’s national development agendas and to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Responsible Volunteering ensures that volunteering activities are locally-identified and designed to respond to the needs of communities as defined by those communities. The selection and preparation of volunteers ensures they can deliver Impactful Volunteering in an equal partnership with the community. In the delivery of these activities, no harm will come to members of the community and volunteers.

2. Commit to the four principles that seek to advance quality in our work and that underpin the Global Standard for Volunteering for Development:

Designing and Delivering Projects
Communities, organisations and volunteers can expect to be involved in collaboratively-designed and effectively-delivered Volunteering for Development projects which respond to community needs and deliver impact and sustainable outcomes.

Duty of Care
The community can expect that organisations, and the people associated with them, will protect and will allow no harm to come to anyone in the community in which they operate, whether volunteers or local community members. Organisations recognise that they have a duty of care not to cause, or fail to prevent psychological or physical harm to volunteers, employees and other associates.

Managing Volunteers
Volunteers can expect to receive preparation, training and support which ensure effective, impactful and ongoing engagement in supporting development efforts locally and internationally.

Measuring Impact
Communities, funders and other stakeholders can expect that the intended impact of the project is identified by the community before the start and is tracked throughout, using information and insights from the community, volunteers and other relevant stakeholders. Project success is defined with the community.