organisations relying on volunteers724. It is very active in advancing volunteering on the political agenda. For instance, the Foundation has established that structural funds should be used to support the establishment of regional volunteer centres725. It is thus being suggested that once the Foundation has managed to outsource volunteer promotion to the regional centres it could also champion international volunteering in Hungary726.
Perception of volunteering The promulgation of the Law on Association in 1989 gave major impetus to the establishment and development of civil society. Voluntary organisations became an important factor in the process of regime change in Hungary727. Nevertheless, the legacy of mistrust towards civil society organisations (that used to be subject to Communist party control in the previous system) and negative connotations of volunteering can still be felt today. As in many other neighbouring countries, the UN International Year of Volunteering 2001 was a catalyst for the development of Hungarian volunteerism. This event helped to unite stakeholders and eventually led to the establishment of the Volunteer Centre Foundation, the leading organisation in the development of volunteering, and the adoption of the Act LXXXVIII of 2005 on Voluntary Activities in the Public Interest. The existence of this law also directs general public opinion on the issue728. The law defines what can be considered a voluntary activity for the public benefit and makes it possible to reimburse those who undertake it. The definition of volunteering has four elements: it is an activity performed of one’s own free will, without remuneration (although reimbursement is allowed), outside the family or close friends and it serves the public good729.
Cross-border volunteering opportunities for youth Volunteering in Hungary is more established at the national level. EVS is the most popular cross-border volunteering programme, the name of which is
724
Önkéntes Központ Alapítvány, ‘Küldetésünk’. Budapest, 2006. <http://www.oka.hu/alap.php?inc=dsp&menu_id=4&almenu_id=1> [Accessed 02-04-2010]. Note: please see the English translations of the titles of Hungarian sources in the bibliography at the end of the case study report. 725 Action 5.5.2 of the Hungarian Operational Programme ‘Social Renewal’ co-financed by the European Social Fund is devoted to promotion of volunteering – see: Nemzeti Fejlesztési Ügynökség, ‘Társadalmi Megújulás Operatív Program (TÁMOP)’. Budapest, 2007. <http://www.nfu.hu/doc/5> [Accessed 10-05-2010]. 726 Interview with Researcher at Kai Consulting, Budapest, 06-04-2010. 727 GHK, National Report – Hungary. Study on Volunteering in the European Union, p. 1. 728 Önkéntes Központ Alapítvány, Útmutató az önkéntes törvényhez. Budapest, 2006, p. 3. <http://www.civil.info.hu/uploaded/documents/Onkentes/20070117100919_20070110_Onkentes_Utmutato.pdf > [Accessed 14-03-2010]. 729 András F. Tóth and Ádám Nagy, ‘Humán infrastruktúra: Önkéntesség – foglalkoztatás – tagság’ in Ádám Nagy (ed.), Civil jelentés 2007–2008. Budapest: Civil Szemle Alapítvány, 2009, p. 59 (59-77).
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