A version of this paper was created for the IVCO conference 2017 as one of a series of context setting papers for the conference.2 It was therefore intended as an intervention to prompt thinking amongst practitioners. The paper focuses on the theme enabling environment and what this means for international volunteering for development/volunteering for development and its role in the implementation of Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following a brief literature review, the paper explores four elements related to an enabling environment: contextual elements, actor-based elements, relational elements and systemwide factors. The paper demonstrates that there is no consensus on the essential elements for an enabling environment, or how these elements are connected to the contribution that volunteers make. Nor is there agreement on how such an environment comes about or what power volunteer involving organizations and volunteers have to create and shape it. The paper concludes with some considerations, questions and challenges for the volunteering for development sector to consider in respect of enabling environment.
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