About the Conference

The fully operational National Volunteering Secretariat (NVS) will be established on October 14, 2014 as a permanent unit under the Ministry of Social Services, Sri Lanka in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers, Sri Lanka for the promotion, coordination, facilitation and support of Volunteerism in the country.

The first-ever  National Conference on Volunteerism with the theme of Volunteerism - the Spark of Inspiration will be held on 14th - 15th October 2014 to celebrate the new era of volunteerism which the National Volunteering Secretariat will introduce to Sri Lanka. This conference seeks to explore scholarly findings and expert views on the impact of volunteerism on the country while lighting and brightening small sparks of inspiration to volunteering in the hearts of Sri Lankans to build and rebuild the country. 


Call for Papers

As the recent UNV report “Sri Lanka Youth: Volunteering to Make a Difference” underscores, in-depth research on Volunteerism is limited in the country. The conference seeks to bridge this knowledge gap by encouraging research on Volunteerism. Therefore, papers are called for the conference under five key themes on volunteerism.

The selected papers will be published as a conference paper volume, and the authors will be presenting the key findings of their papers at the conference. It is hoped that the research findings will be capable of directing the policy makers, interested stakeholders and above all the National Volunteering Secretariat to take effective actions to enhance volunteerism in the country. 

Call for Video Documentaries

Innovative, original and analytical video documentaries are invited to be included in the conference. The documentaries should focus on one of the five themes. One best documentary will be selected under each theme and will be played during the relevant Seminar Session at the conference. Two other documentaries under each theme will be selected to be played during the refreshment times of the conference. All shortlisted documentaries will be published in the NVS official website. Please note that there is also a possibility of telecasting the five best documentaries on television. All winners- five best documentaries and two other documentaries that will be played during the refreshment times- will automatically become delegates to the conference. All who have submitted documentaries will get special preference in getting registered for delegation.  


Five Themes of the Conference

Themes of the Conference

  1. Effect of Volunteering on Post conflict Development, Peace, Reconciliation, Social Integration and Reintegration
  2. Impact of Corporate Volunteering on Economic & Social Development
  3. Providing Economic Value to Volunteering Contributions
  4. Impact of Youth Volunteering on the Development
  5. Impact of Volunteering on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)