Three members of the Comhlámh team are in Paris this week contributing to international conversations about mutual exchange, partnerships and the future of volunteering. Their participation comes at a critical time for the organisations and infrastructure that support values-led international volunteering.
From 19–23 October, Fiachra Brennan, Dervla King and Caroline Murphy will represent Comhlámh at IVCO 2026, the international volunteering conference bringing together organisations and practitioners from across the world.
This year’s theme, Global Volunteering Through Mutual Exchange and Partnerships: An Essential Force for Sustainable Development, creates space to explore how volunteering can contribute to more equitable partnerships, meaningful exchange and sustainable development.
Through speaking, facilitating and moderating sessions, the Comhlámh team will bring experience from Ireland into wider conversations about international volunteering, solidarity and the relationships that underpin this work.
Values-led volunteering needs more than good intentions
At Comhlámh, we believe volunteering should be rooted in solidarity, reciprocity, critical reflection and accountability. It should challenge unequal power dynamics, recognise the knowledge and leadership of local communities, and support relationships that are equitable and mutually beneficial.
But these values do not put themselves into practice.
They require investment in the people, organisations, learning opportunities and support structures that enable volunteering to be thoughtful, responsible and accountable. They require space to question established approaches, learn from mistakes, share experiences and strengthen practice across the sector.
This is the work of volunteering infrastructure: the often less visible, but essential, support that helps ensure volunteering lives up to the values it claims to represent.
Sustaining the foundations of good practice
Across the international volunteering sector, conversations about impact, sustainability and equitable partnerships must also recognise the infrastructure that makes good practice possible.
As the sector looks to the future, we need to consider how this essential work can be recognised, resourced and sustained. If volunteering is to contribute meaningfully to sustainable development, investment in its foundations must be treated as essential, not optional.
With 2026 designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development (IVY 2026), there is a global opportunity not only to recognise the contribution of volunteers, but to strengthen the conditions that enable volunteering to support sustainable development. This must include recognising and sustaining the infrastructure, expertise and learning that make responsible, reciprocal and values-led volunteering possible.
Bringing Ireland’s experience into the global conversation
IVCO 2026 offers an opportunity to exchange learning with international colleagues, strengthen relationships and consider how the sector can respond to shared challenges.
For Comhlámh, this means contributing to conversations about the future of volunteering while continuing to champion the values that have shaped our work.
We look forward to sharing reflections and learning from IVCO 2026.
Explore the IVCO 2026 conference programme
Explore our bios and those of other speakers here
Comhlámh is grateful to Irish Aid at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) for ongoing funding support for our work. Irish Aid is “the Government’s overseas development programme which supports partners working in some of the world’s poorest countries. Irish Aid also supports global citizenship education in Ireland to encourage learning and public engagement with global issues”. This blog does not necessarily represent or reflect DFAT policy.