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Print this PageService Enquiry is a series which explores the experience of service and volunteering around the world.
Vision
To develop new knowledge in the field of civic service and volunteerism in order to inform policy and practice.
Mission
Service Enquiry
- Analyses experiences of service in different parts of the world
- Examines the relationship between policy and practice
- Profiles research on the impact of service programmes and policy on democratic
values, citizenship and socio-economic development
- Practitioners working in national, community and other types of service and volunteering programmes, institutions and non-governmental organisations
- Academics in higher education institutions
- Policy-makers in government and international organisations
- Researchers and analysts in different parts of the world
Partners
- Innovations in Civic Participation
- The Center for Social Development at Washington University in St Louis
- Volunteer and Service Enquiry Southern Africa (VOSESA)
- Latin American Center of Service-Learning
Service and volunteerism has been taking place around the world in various forms for many years. In recent decades, the scope of volunteer service has widened and there have been significant changes. For example, in seeking strategies for greater youth involvement in social, economic and political life, policy-makers, institutions and organisations are increasingly turning to the concept and practice of service and volunteerism.
What is clear, however, is that there is still relatively little well-researched documentation available about service policies and programmes, particularly in developing countries. While the field of service, service-learning and volunteerism is well-developed in the academic community in the USA, the UK and Western Europe, the very rich experience of countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia still remains under-researched and inaccessible. Consequently, many institutions and organisations lack a forum in which they are able to profile and share good practice of service and volunteering programmes.
Service Enquiry aims to fill this gap by producing a series of publications analysing the experience of service and volunteerism in different parts of the world. Through thoughtful, informed and well-researched contributions, Service Enquiry surfaces different perspectives on civic service and volunteerism. It raises issues for critical enquiry, asks difficult questions, and so aims to stimulate discussion in institutions, programmes and policy forums around the world.
The Service Enquiry publishing project aligns itself with the growing movement for open access to information. Service Enquiry follows an open-access publishing strategy in order to reach as many readers as possible around the world. Each edition published on this website can be downloaded free of charge.