UN volunteer arm and partners team-up to enhance community action

The United Nations volunteer programme and two leading organizations in citizen participation today finalized an agreement to help enhance the impact of volunteers in peace and development work.

“Without millions of volunteers everywhere, we will be hard pressed to meet clear targets for the poor, such as those spelled out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs),” UN Volunteers Programme (UNV) Executive Coordinator Sharon Capeling-Alakija said, stressing the importance of the agreement.

UNV, the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS) and the International Association of Volunteer Effort (IAVE) are teaming-up to identify key areas of collaboration, including advocacy campaigns, studies on volunteerism and joint publicity for volunteer initiatives.

“Volunteers are indeed the backbone of civil society,” Ms. Capeling-Alakija stated. “This partnership is an important step towards creating awareness that civil society -- and the volunteers who energize it -- is a vital force at the centre of development work.”

Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is the volunteer arm of the UN system supporting peace, relief and development initiatives in nearly 150 countries. It was created by the UN General Assembly in 1970 and is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).