A/RES/56/38 incentives and subsidies for organizations, as well as coverage and protection against risks, in a way fitting the particular society; (ii) Facilitate partnership-building around volunteer-based activities of civil society, including arrangements for joint planning, implementation and monitoring. This could incorporate employee volunteer activities of the private sector. (d) Encouraging and undertaking research in the various aspects of volunteerism and its impact on society (i) Ensure that consideration of the issues regarding volunteering is based on a sound appreciation and analysis of the parameters, profile and trends of volunteering in the particular country context. Studies on volunteering can be undertaken by independent public policy research and/or academic institutions. Governments can also initiate research themselves, in partnership with other stakeholders; (ii) Establish the economic value of volunteering to help to highlight one important aspect of its overall contribution to society and thereby assist in the development of informed policies which take into account the different levels of participation of women and men, youth and older people in different fields of volunteering. (e) Ensuring volunteering citizens’ access to information on opportunities for (i) Facilitate the establishment of national databases on volunteer opportunities in collaboration with community-based organizations and notfor-profit organizations; (ii) Disseminate information through the media, schools, and other channels with particular attention given to ensuring that information is accessible also to disadvantaged segments of the population. Encourage media companies to support and expand the concept of pro bono public service announcements on behalf of volunteer-based organizations and activities. (f) Addressing the possible impact of general social and economic policy measures upon citizens’ opportunities and willingness to volunteer (i) Take into account the possible impact of general social and economic policy upon citizens’ opportunities to volunteer. Such a “volunteer check” could pertain to measures related to labour, for example, such as the length of the work week and the age of retirement, which have an impact on the profile of volunteering. Legal and fiscal measures could also be reviewed to assess whether they impinge negatively on the status of volunteer-involving organizations, including issues related to juridical status, rights to associational activities, and resource mobilization. Subsequently, legal and administrative hindrances to volunteering, where they exist, can be reduced; (ii) Give due weight to local ownership and citizen participation, to bring public services closer to communities and to open space for greater citizen engagement expressed through channels such as parental involvement in schools and community involvement in natural resource management; (iii) Recognize that transport, communication and other infrastructure, such as public spaces, enhance the capacity of people to organize for voluntary activities. This is especially true of geographically dispersed populations and 5