France Volontaires and the 2030 Agenda

Every year in July, France Volontaires participates in the High Level Political Forum (HLPF), the central platform of the United Nations for the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 SDGs. Within the Volunteer Groups Alliance, a coalition of more than 70 organisations and networks supporting sustainable development through volunteering in all its forms around the world, France Volontaires contributes to initiatives to carry the voice of volunteering to the highest level: organisation of events alongside official meetings, submission of position papers, speeches by representatives of Member States and volunteering stakeholders and volunteer testimonials…

Each year at the HLPF, a number of states present their Voluntary National Review (VNR) which monitors the progress of the countries in achieving the SDGs, as well as highlights good practices and lessons learned. France Volontaires, through its Volunteering Centres, contributes each year in several countries to the drafting of VNRs in order to ensure that the role of volunteering in the accomplishment of the 2030 Agenda is mentioned.

In May 2021, France Volontaires published an initial experimental study entitled “What is the contribution of International exchange and solidarity volunteering to the 2030 Agenda?”. Conducted with a dozen member organisations and the Sociotopie human and social sciences workshop, it provides enlightening findings on the place of the 2030 Agenda in the field of international volunteering. This study observed the contribution of volunteering to the 2030 Agenda and developed a method to analyse it. It focuses on SDG 4 (‘Education for All’), with a focus on Madagascar.