MEM-VOL (Migrant and Ethnic Minority Volunteering): A Transnational Exchange Programme

Volunteering is increasingly being recognised as an activity that can promote social inclusion. However, it has been debated (certainly in the UK) how far volunteering is still an exclusive activity benefiting certain sections of society far more than others. We know barriers exist to wider participation, and to an extent this drives the work we do: to identify and remove these barriers and to draw in as many people as possible to volunteering.

The potential for volunteering to assist people born outside their current country of residence to settle and to move into paid work is immense. This edition of Research to Practice looks at a joint European project, MEM-VOL, a “transnational exchange program” through which Germany, Austria, Denmark, Holland, France and the UK are exploring the volunteering of migrants and minority ethnic communities.