The Network is funded by the Grundtvig strand of the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme. The overall aim of the VALUE Network is to both facilitate and stimulate the development of cooperation between universities and the volunteering sector in the delivery of University Lifelong Learning (ULLL) to volunteers and volunteering organisation staff.
VALUE brings together representatives of the University and Volunteering sectors through a shared belief that the development of volunteers, through University Lifelong Learning (ULLL), can play a key role in the development of European society as a whole. At the centre of the Network’s investigations are volunteers and the sophisticated learning – both formal and informal - that they experience in their volunteering work. VALUE’s principal aims are to bring the two sectors together to share ideas and models of working together and to explore the potential for developing new university lifelong learning opportunities for both volunteers and staff in volunteering organisations.
VALUE is also developing a resource base which includes materials such as reports, case studies and bibliographic references and which will be of interest to organisations in both sectors. The resource base – together with information about the Network’s meetings - is available on this website. In Spring 2011, the VALUE final conference took place in Ankara, Turkey.