The 18th European Conference on Voluntary Action: Engaging Communities, organised by VolontEurope Secretariat and the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina, will take place in Sarajevo on 8-11 October 2009. The openning ceremony and reception are hosted by the British Ambassador Michael Tatham.

The conference brings together volunteer experts, managers, trainers, academics, researchers, and policy makers from over 20 European countries to discuss volunteerism with an aim to increase the understanding of the principles of volunteerism and to promote citizen participation in their communities.

In his opening speech, Ambassador Tatham said: “I am very pleased that British representatives from civil society are contributing so fully to this event. The British Government is in no doubt about the value of voluntary action and the vital role that citizen involvement can play in improving services to those in need, in complementing and monitoring the work of government and in developing a stronger civic society.
The emergence of a powerful and effective civil society is one of the hardest challenges for those countries going through the process of post-communist democratic transition.  Broadly speaking, the Communist Governments of Central and Eastern Europe sought to disempower the public and saw civil society as a threat rather than as an opportunity.  
At the same time, the challenges of political and economic transition (compounded in Bosnia’s case by conflict legacy challenges) have created a huge space and demand for the kind of role that civil society organisations can play.”

Ambassador Tatham’s speech and photos from the reception available at the Embassy website.

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