Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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826. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if he will provide an update on the volunteer initiative as announced in October 2013; the allocation that was given to this initiative from his Department for 2013, 2014 and 2015; the number of Irish volunteers that were supported in those years and the agencies through which they were supported; his plans to expand the initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41035/14]

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The Government’s policy on overseas development, One World, One Future, which was launched in May 2013, underlines the important contribution that Irish volunteers make to international development. It included a commitment to establish a new Irish Aid Volunteering Initiative.

The Initiative, launched in October 2013, aims to strengthen support for volunteering, from the information stage to the volunteer’s return, and to promote participation in high quality volunteer programmes that contribute to clear sustainable development goals.

The Volunteering Initiative has a number of strands, including funding of strategic partnerships with Comhlámh, the Irish Association of Volunteers and Development Workers and VSO Ireland. It also includes funding for innovative volunteering projects through civil society organizations, and continued support to international volunteering initiatives, including the UN Volunteers programme.

Since the launch of the Initiative, Irish Aid has also held two highly successful Volunteering Fairs, aimed at raising awareness of and interest in overseas volunteering. Some 300 people attended each of these events.

Since 2013, Irish Aid has provided €2,200,000 to support the volunteering strategic partnerships with Comhlámh and VSO. This support has enabled further rollout and implementation of the Code of Good Practice on Volunteering and the development of an online information portal (#VolOps) to enable volunteers to access information about responsible volunteering and volunteer placements. The pilot programme with VSO Ireland is enabling the deployment of specialist volunteers, particularly in the medical and education fields, to Ethiopia, Uganda and Zambia. To date, 15 volunteers have deployed under this programme with a further 14 to deploy in the coming year .

Ireland has also been a long-standing partner of the United Nations Volunteers Programme (UNV). With funding from Irish Aid, UNV manages an online volunteering database, and also deploys Youth Volunteers and specialists to UN offices in developing countries. Irish Aid’s financial contribution to the UNV Programme amounted to €1,000,000 over the past two years.

Through its funding of civil society organisations more generally, Irish Aid continues to provide support to development programmes that contain a significant volunteering element. A recent survey on International Volunteering from Ireland, undertaken by Comhlámh, indicates that an estimated 2, 000 Irish people volunteered overseas in 2013.

As part of the Volunteering Initiative, the Department will continue to explore opportunities,and work with relevant agencies, to support innovative volunteering opportunities that reflect local needs in development countries and build on the principles of partnership, skill sharing and mutual learning.