Ahead of DSA2026, more 50 participants joined a hybrid workshop to explore pressings questions for humanitarian and development practitioners: What forms of volunteering are currently invisible in official data? How can better measurement support policy development and funding decisions? And how can we balance the need for comparable statistics with capturing local diversity?

Co-organised by United Nations Volunteers (UNV), Northumbria University, Comhlámh and UCD Volunteers Overseas, the workshop drew on the 2026 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report to spark dialogue among NGOs, government officials, researchers, and practitioners exploring gaps in current measurement systems and how better data can drive stronger policy and funding decisions.

“The most valuable thing I am taking away from this workshop is a deeper understanding of volunteerism and the importance of measuring its impact. I learned how data and evidence can help demonstrate the value of volunteers, improve volunteer programs, and support better decision-making for sustainable community development.” said a workshop participant. 

The Northumbria Centre for Global Development team also contributed to a panel on the topic.  Chaired by James O’Brien from Global Volunteering Forum, the panel included insights from Matt Baillie Smith, Katy Jenkins, Emiliya Asadova and Egidius PhD on how measurement shapes what is recognised, and the steps needed to build more policy-relevant measurement systems. 

The panel discussed questions of power, inclusion and representation within measurement systems, noting how seemingly neutral frameworks can unintentionally privilege certain models of volunteering while overlooking others. The discussion emphasised the importance of ensuring that volunteer measurement reflects diverse realities rather than imposing one-size-fits-all approaches.

Emiliya Asadova explored how improved measurement systems could better support policy development, funding decisions and recognition of volunteers. She highlighted opportunities for governments, civil society organisations and international bodies to work together in developing more inclusive and meaningful approaches to collecting and using volunteer data.

Following the panel, participants took part in interactive group discussions, with in-person attendees having the opportunity to test a new game that is being developed to encourage exploration of the dynamics of impact measurement, including who influences decisions and approaches, and how this happens. The event concluded with an input from Dr Egidius Kamanyi, who drew on his research in Tanzania to reflect on the many forms of volunteering that often go uncounted in official data, particularly in Global South contexts. Community-based mutual aid, informal support networks and locally rooted forms of collective action can make substantial contributions to social well-being, yet they are frequently absent from national statistics.

Comhlámh colleagues Bronwyn April and Fiachra Brennan presented reflections from 20+ years’ of work on Comhlámh’s Code of Practice and a paper on the creating space for difficult knowledge in volunteering is coming soon.

Reflecting on Linkedin Bronwyn observed: “Volunteering does not take place outside power, as it is shaped by colonial histories, unequal mobility, racism, ecological crisis and political violence. Some people are free to move, care and be recognised, while others are displaced, contained, criminalised or silenced, and that is difficult knowledge. It unsettles the idea that volunteering is simply about good people doing good things – it asks harder questions: Who benefits from existing models? Whose knowledge counts? What forms of solidarity are still possible? What practices do we need to change, and what might we need to stop doing altogether?”