"Volunteerism is an important component of any strategy aimed at, inter alia, such areas as poverty reduction, sustainable development, health, disaster prevention and management and social integration and, in particular, overcoming social exclusion and discrimination".
Resolution A/57/106, "Follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers", adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 26 November 2002

UNV's Annual Report 2002, "Weaving the Web", is all about how UN Volunteers do more than the obvious. In Bangladesh and Mozambique, UNV teams train people to weave baskets and tapestries in order to make a living - sustainable initiatives combining culture, artistry and microcredit to fight poverty. But UNV's involvement with people also takes another track, away from hands, reed and yarn. It threads through everything we do as an organization to promote volunteerism as a development concept. It illustrates our deliberate steps to create ties linking fellow volunteers at village, national and international levels. It points to our collaboration with governments and the United Nations system, starting with our largest partner, UNDP. Last year we drew together many other colourful strands to strengthen the work of volunteers worldwide.

Promoting corporate social responsibility through volunteerism, UNV and the New Academy of Business launched a collaborative effort in seven countries - Brazil, Ghana, India, Lebanon, Nigeria, the Philippines and South Africa - to involve transnational corporations and national companies in development activities.

Building on pro-volunteer partnerships for global outreach, the International Business Leaders Forum, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and UNV came together to host joint events at global conferences on ageing, HIV/AIDS and sustainable development. Drawing attention to the contributions of community volunteers in meeting global challenges, the partners encourage and assist governments in fulfilling commitments made during and in followup to the International Year of Volunteers (IYV).

Responding to demand from volunteer groups around the world to take forward gains made during IYV through expanded networking and knowledge management, UNV launched WorldVolunteerWeb.org, a global Internet resource and a onestop- shop on volunteerism.

Turning to the document in your hands, you will find numerous examples of how UN Volunteers build on networks of people. In the Caribbean, they work with teachers and parents to strengthen health and family life skills needed for bringing up a generation well prepared to make the right choices. In Mongolia, they help deaf people connect to the working world by providing computer training, increasing their chance to land a job. And it doesn't stop here. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN Volunteers attached to the UN peacekeeping mission work after hours with local volunteers to repair schools and refurbish hospital wards.

These stories are but a few of the countless fibres in an expanding global volunteer tapestry. Unobserved voluntary acts of generosity and heroism are taking place around the globe - from transporting safe water from distant wells to caring for children in need. But the fact that good deeds grow in the wild does not free us from the obligation to cultivate them. Voluntary action, as a pillar of sustainable development, must be studied, understood, planned for and facilitated. The value of volunteer efforts needs to be measured, documented and communicated. We need to weave it in.

Sharon Capeling-Alakija