After Cambodia's wars in the 1970s, many traditional villages and cultural heritage sites were destroyed. As people struggled to survive, there was little opportunity for basic education let alone a chance to learn traditional music, dance, customs and value systems. As a result, today's young people often do not remember the ways of their ancestors. "Traditional culture is not stored in the memories of boys, girls and youth under 20, but stored in the memories of elderly people," says Nobuo Endo, a Japanese UN Volunteer working to build links between generations using traditional culture as his primary tool. The 63-year-old adviser to the Government of Cambodia helped set up groups of older people in Kok Thnout in Cambodia's Angkor Park, the site of ancient remains of the Khmer Empire. Members of the groups - Yiey, meaning grandmother, and Ta, meaning grandfather - are all over the age of 50.

Seventy per cent of all elderly villagers took part in group activities ranging from making mats and baskets to learning classical Khmer music, known as Pin Peat. To share this cultural knowledge, group members organized musical and handicraft workshops for primary school children and other community members. The children loved it. The elders realized they wanted more than a one-time event: they wanted to capture and preserve this heritage for their children and grandchildren. To achieve this, a community group of senior volunteers has compiled illustrations of their activities and a history of the village for an educational "culture book" - a new reference tool linking three generations.

Other initiatives propelling volunteer momentum beyond 2001 included:

• The Mongolian Volunteer Association, UN Volunteers and several other volunteer-sending agencies laid the foundations for the country's first Volunteer Centre. Each IYV partner organization pledged staff support, office space or equipment to help sustain and train volunteers for action to reach vulnerable groups in the areas of health, environment and youth.
• Building stronger links between domestic and international volunteers was high on the agenda of a national volunteer conference hosted by Volunteering Australia together with Australian Volunteers International. This was an important step in mobilizing domestic constituencies in support of international development efforts and in creating an awareness amongst people who volunteer domestically that they are part of a global volunteer movement.
• Extending the government's support for volunteerism, Viet Nam's Prime Minister Phan Van Khai called on volunteers to set up teams of medical and healthcare workers to reach 25 rural provinces. The country's Youth Union, which was asked to run this programme, has already sent volunteers to most of these areas.
• A comprehensive study of all government legislation and practice on volunteering conducted by New Zealand's Ministry of Social Policy paved the way for government, community and iwi/Maori organizations to look afresh at opportunities to strengthen their networks.