During the first half of 2011, a series of five regional consultation meetings were organized in Ecuador (28–20 March), Turkey (18–19 April), the Philippines (3–4 May), and Senegal (30–31 May for Francophone Africa and 6–7 June for Anglophone Africa). These events brought together hundreds of stakeholders from civil society, the private sector, national authorities and academia, UNV Field Units and other United Nations entities. A global conference on ‘Volunteering for a sustainable future’ was held 15–17 September in Budapest in partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE).