Achieving the MDGs will require the ingenuity, solidarity and creativity of millions of ordinary people through voluntary action. The challenge is to ensure that the right conditions are in place for such a powerful force to flourish, and to be harnessed effectively for development. To thrive, voluntary action has to be actively promoted, recognized, facilitated and networked.

International Volunteer Day (IVD), observed December 5, serves as an effective platform to spread awareness of the contributions of volunteerism and to mobilize local volunteer action for specific development priorities. In 2003, 125 countries marked IVD with activities ranging from building access ramps for disabled people in Assab, Eritrea, to drying up mosquito-breeding grounds in Uganda to fight the spread of malaria.

While thousands of people in Phnom Penh marched in the First AIDS Walk, calling on Cambodians to volunteer against the pandemic, business leaders in San Pedro Sulfa, Honduras, gave advice on management and fundraising to community-based organizations. The WorldVolunteerWeb, managed by UNV, is a leading Internet-based resource on volunteering. A one-stop shop on volunteerism, it houses a growing body of information highlighting the crucial role of volunteer action in attaining MDG targets. Accessed by more than 50,000 organizations and individuals each month, this knowledge resource serves as an effective networking tool for the global volunteer community.

UNV also works with countries and a wide range of partners to strengthen the analysis and understanding of volunteering, and to encourage the adoption of favourable policies and support measures:

• In partnership with Johns Hopkins University (JHU), helping statistical offices incorporate volunteer contributions into the system of national accounts.
• In a joint effort with the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), collecting examples of best practices in volunteer-related legislation, which will be shared with parliaments around the world in 2004.
• In cooperation with the United Kingdom-based New Academy of Business (NAB), researching and helping develop corporate volunteering and social engagement policies in developing countries and economies in transition.
  Together with the World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS), the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), in advocating for the recognition of the contribution of volunteerism, amongst others in major global conferences and events.
• Supporting the setting up of the first Research Centre for Volunteering and Welfare in China, at Beijing University, and helping establish Indonesia’s first Volunteer Development Centre.