Celebrated on 5 December, International Volunteer Day is an opportunity to celebrate the Australian volunteers striving to support positive change in our region. This year, the Australian Volunteers Program celebrated the day with over 30 events across 20 countries. 

Returned volunteers kicked off celebrations with Returned Australian Volunteer Network (RAVN) events held across each Australian capital city.

On the eve of International Volunteer Day, Senator Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, was joined by Members of Parliament, Senators, diplomatic corps, Australia Awards recipients, and DFAT and program staff for a breakfast reception at Parliament House. 

Celebrations flowed across 20 countries, as embassies, volunteers, partner organisations and program staff gathered to recognise the day in a diverse array of events, including a special event for departing volunteers who were farewelled by returned volunteers and staff in Melbourne.

The Australian Volunteers Program produced a video especially for the day, which was shared widely by Members of Parliament, Senators, current and returned volunteers, and many more. 

International Volunteer Day also broke the internet with hundreds of people posting and thousands of people engaging in the amazing stories of Australian volunteers supporting their partner organisations.

Current and returned volunteers, partner organisations, Embassies, Members of Parliament and Senators all got involved with hundreds of posts across Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, and over 60,000 people celebrating International Volunteer Day via social media.

In Australia, the RAVN state representatives also marked the day by sending letters to the editor recognising the contribution of Australian volunteers to their local papers, which resulted in the publication of letters in over 20 newspapers across Australia. Australian volunteers also made the TV news in Mongolia and the newspapers in Bhutan and Papua New Guinea.