@article{2018:obrien:what_an_en,
title = {What an Enabling Environment means for volunteering for development},
year = {2018},
note = {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.},
journal = {Voluntaris},
pages = {212--227},
author = {O’Brien, James and Learmonth, Bonnie and Rakesh, Shaleen and Weaving, Goopy Parke},
volume = {6},
number = {2}
}