Don’t overlook volunteering in migration debate, says study

Volunteering can play a role in promoting the integration of immigrants and is a good indicator of how well that process advances, but its potential is not being used to the full. That is the main finding of an EU-funded study to be published in early December by the European Volunteer Centre.

The study urges the European Commission to develop an EU strategy for promoting volunteering and its role in European societies. It also calls on the Commission to recognise volunteering as an instrument and indicator of integration by including it in one of its next handbooks on integration.

Migration and the integration of immigrant populations may be one of the hottest topics in public and political debate in Europe, but the 18-month study, entitled ‘INVOLVE - Involvement of third country nationals in volunteering as a means of better integration’, says that migrant volunteering is on the agenda of hardly any of the countries researched.

Migrants, the report says, still face major personal, organisational, policy and social barriers to integration and to increased involvement in volunteering. And the area has not yet been researched sufficiently to make full use of volunteering as an element in integration policies.

Nonetheless, the study’s overview of the situations in the Netherlands, Hungary, England, Germany, Austria, Spain and France produces a number of examples of "good practice". These include the Turkish Broadcasting Association in Zaanstad, the Netherlands, a charitable association and migrant organisation helping the Turkish community to take part in Dutch society through weekly radio broadcasting and other activities. Other examples include volunteers mentoring school children from mostly migrant families in one district of Paris.

The study underlines the knock-on benefits of involvement in voluntary activity, enabling immigrants to acquire basic knowledge of the host society in terms of language, housing, education, health and social services, and improving their employability.

Volunteering enables immigrants and non-immigrants to meet and to take action on community issues that matter to both of them. And it enables the host society to deal with increasing diversity.

One Iranian volunteer said: "When I came to the Netherlands, I thought - volunteering - what is it? Later I had the idea that many people in Iran volunteer, only that it is not called as such, because we have another vision on it."

In a series of recommendations to policymakers and voluntary organisations, the study says governments must create an enabling environment for volunteering and for migrants to get involved. The study stresses the importance of co-operation between migrant and ‘mainstream’ voluntary organisations and of raising awareness about volunteering through, for example, information in ‘welcome packs’ and training for migrants.

Volunteering can play a role in promoting the integration of immigrants and is a good indicator of how well that process advances, but its potential is not being used to the full. That is the main finding of an EU-funded study to be published in early December by the European Volunteer Centre.