Mr. Dirk Defauw told us his views on volunteering. He considers it as being an important contribution to the society, as it brings inspiration, enthusiasm, general welfare and warmth to the society. Volunteers would be very incentivised to discover new problems as well as new solutions.
According to Mr. Defauw, the government of West-Flanders promotes voluntary action in various ways. Just like many other regional governments, gives financial support to youth, welfare, development and environmental organisations. The public administration supports different international youth volunteering programmes. During the last years, also new approaches have been developed. In times of an ageing society, the government regularly campaigns for more voluntary involvement of elderly people. If seniors were ready to support younger generations, they could help younger generations and hand on their experience, the minister stated. Addressing all generations, the government awards an annual volunteer trophy. Mr. Defauw was especially proud of the insurance programmes for volunteers, which were established in 2007.
Concluding his presentation, he congratulated the whole team for their effort to share practices and to promote volunteering.