The objectives of this European Commission initiative are to recognise volunteers in all areas of society and to increase awareness among Europeans of the huge value of voluntary work.

"The initiative was launched at the request of the European voluntary sector, who had noticed that, though voluntary work is already covered at a European level, it's never treated in a coherent or structured way," says Eva Hambach, head of the Vlaams Steunpunt Vrijwilligerswerk, or Flemish Volunteer Support Network (VSV). "The goal of the initiative is to highlight volunteering in Europe and to urge the European institutions to put volunteering on the agenda in a more fundamental and sustainable way."

You might have noticed the EYV Tour, which started in December near Brussels Central Station and will have stops all over Europe throughout the year. Each stage of the tour gives volunteers a chance to meet each other, engage with policymakers and discuss key issues for the future of their work.

In Flanders, initiatives are being coordinated by VSV, which aims to highlight volunteering in all its diversity and to encourage policymakers and organisations to look beyond 2011, engaging in long-term initiatives for volunteers.

A concrete initiative is the European institutions' Open Day on 7 May, during which you can visit the European Parliament and Commission. "We managed to make volunteering the main theme of this event, including an information market with several volunteering organisations," says Hambach. "We also want to provide local authorities with ideas for local actions by organising an inspiration day and study days."

Time is on your side
About 870,000 people in Flanders volunteer in sectors as diverse as leisure, culture, environment, education and human rights. But sport and social work, like helping refugees or the homeless, are the most popular. The typical volunteer is aged between 34 and 54, has a good level of education and an income slightly higher than the average.

"It's interesting to see that it is in fact people with families and an active career who engage most in volunteering," says Hambach. "The busier people's lives are, the more they tend to volunteer. So when people argue that they have no time for volunteering, we can prove that it actually works the other way around."

And though voluntary work has increasing competition from other, more commercial, pastimes, the number of volunteers in Flanders has increased in the past decade and is expected to continue to grow. A lot of voluntary actions are initiated by young people - precisely those one might expect to prefer video games or TV.

VSV is not worried that volunteering might one day lose the battle against new forms of leisure. "In Flanders, there is no sign that points towards a decline," says Hambach.

"Instead, we think that such new trends will create new forms of volunteering. However, it remains a challenge for organisations to give volunteering a cool image, so it can keep competing against those other ways of spending free time." www.vrijwilligersweb.be

Volunteering for dummies

Want to volunteer? Here are some things you might want to keep in mind.

> Consider what you're already doing in your free time. You might be a volunteer without realising it: leader in youth movements, member of the parent committee in your kids' schools, board member in a local association... All this is volunteering but isn't often considered as such.

> Ask yourself why you want to volunteer: to meet new people in a sport club or to have a quiet moment to yourself watering plants in a botanical garden? To help children in asylum centres with their homework or to help frogs and toads across the street during their spring migration? The reasons why people volunteer are as diverse as the activities.

> Google. Look for organisations or initiatives in your community or among your friends, and you will find that volunteering is not as far off as you thought it was. The website below also offers a broad overview of opportunities.

> In principle, anyone can volunteer. In most cases, there are regulations in place, so you don't have to worry about insurance, liability, etc. Special rules apply to children and sometimes to foreigners. Also, a lot depends on the kind of voluntary work and the sector in which you're working, so the best thing to do is contact an organisation in an area in which you are interested. www.vrijwilligerswerk.be