12 August 2008

Bonn, Germany: International Youth Day signals the UN's commitment to youth as a significant asset for development. Volunteerism is an important channel for realizing the potential of youth, and UNV is at work worldwide to harness youth volunteerism.

Since 2007, UNV has been assisting the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) with its Youth Ambassadors for Peace programme. Having ensured that volunteerism is part and parcel of the initiative's core concepts, UNV will work on pilot projects in five countries: Guinea Bissau, Côte d'Ivoire, Liberia, Togo and Sierra Leone.

The pilots, which will be coordinated by UNV volunteers starting in late 2008, will mobilize graduates from universities, colleges, vocational schools, etc as volunteers. Some 200 West African volunteers will serve as 'Ambassadors for Peace', strengthening NGOs and civil society organizations working on conflict resolution, reconciliation and peacebuilding.

Furthermore, via the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process, UNV also deploys volunteers on the Asia Youth Volunteer Programme. UNV volunteers from Afghanistan, India, Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines transfer their knowledge and skills in agriculture and small-to-medium-enterprises to African communities in Tanzania and Zambia.

A natural-resource management project in partnership with the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) in Cape Verde has been replicated in Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Zambia. It builds youth volunteer capacity in environmental degradation through integrated watershed management, stream and gully stabilization, and planting multipurpose trees. Moreover, the activities of the programme enable youth to generate income.

In addition to these major programmes, there are several initiatives in individual countries. In Sierra Leone, for example, UNV and UNDP support a Government-led national youth empowerment and employment programme. UNV volunteers are training 15,000 young men and women, who thus gain the skills and confidence to re-establish sustainable livelihoods.

And in Benin, through the MDG Facility funds and with UNV Country Office support, Boy Scouts were trained in HIV/AIDS sensitization sessions for youth. The trained scouts are sensitizing thousands of youths in the northern part of the country on a voluntary basis. The Scout movement is integrating these into its global initiative 'Red ribbons for Scouts'.

Beyond Africa, seven United Nations organizations are cooperating in the 'Support to Human Security' programme in Honduras. UNV liaises with local volunteering organizations to get youth engaged in volunteering initiatives rather than sucked into violent gangs.

With UNV and donor support, the Regional Integration through Volunteer Exchanges for Reconciliation in South-Eastern Europe (RIVERSEE) programme has enabled 65 youth volunteers in the Balkan region to volunteer for development in community-based organizations and governmental institutions.

In Kyrgyzstan, the UNV-UNDP Integrated Youth Programme for Development and Peace replicates a successful approach for supporting youth groups and teams of local volunteer trainers piloted during 2004-2006.

And in China, UNV shared international best practices on volunteer legislation with the Municipality of Beijing. Many of these were integrated into the regulations on promoting voluntary service adopted by the city in 2007, and UNV supports youth organizations and other local partners in promoting them as models throughout China. By supporting the Olympic volunteer programme, UNV aims to support the longer-term mobilization of volunteers for local development.