January 2009 Marian Harkin to Address the Impact of the Economic Situation on Volunteering

Marian Harkin MEP will visit NUI Galway on Thursday, 22 January, for a public lecture on the EU's response to the current economic climate, and the impact of the recession on social capital and volunteering. The general public are invited to the lecture which takes place at 1pm in the Arts Millennium Building, NUI Galway. Marian Harkin is an Independent MEP for the North and West Constituency of Ireland. Marian has an active interest in volunteering and is a founder and Co-President of the Interest Group on Volunteering in the European Parliament. She has authored a report entitled The Role of Volunteering in Contributing to Social and Economic Cohesion and she has also spearheaded the campaign to get the European Parliament to designate the year 2011 as the European Year of Volunteering. Lorraine Tansey, Student Volunteer Co-ordinator at NUI Galway, runs the University s volunteering programme ALIVE. Lorraine expects interesting input from Marian Harkin: "It will be good to get a sense of the value our European Parliament puts on the social capital generated by volunteering and community engagement. We are also interested to discuss how the economic downturn is putting pressure on funding for community organisations and NGOs, and how these same economic forces might influence the public's capacity for community engagement". The event is being organised by NUI Galway's Community Knowledge Initiative (CKI) which is dedicated to supporting and researching community engagement in Ireland. The session will be co-hosted by the NUI Galway's College of Business, Public Policy and Law, and chaired by its Dean, Dr Willie Golden. For further information contact Mary Bernard at the CKI office on 091 493823 or email cki@nuigalway.ie -ends-