My tenure as UNV Executive Coordinator in the 1990s has a special place in my memory. It was a wonderful experience that brought great satisfaction, providing many challenges and offering great rewards. Most precious was the opportunity to interact with volunteers from across the world and to embrace the spirit of volunteerism. This continues to inspire me in my work today.

One of the amazing qualities of the volunteer spirit is its ability to adapt to change. I believe this gives UNV its strength and has driven this programme, always on the move! The escalation of conflict saw UN Volunteers working in conflict prevention and management, as peace-builders, guardians of rights, providers of relief, in resettlement of demobilized combatants and helping communities make the ransition from crisis to development. Aside from their newer role in coping with man-made disasters, we also saw UN Volunteers stepping up response to natural disasters such as floods and drought. Often the world wakes up too late to the huge human price that has to be paid in these creeping emergencies created in part by long-term environmental mismanagement. Work in democratic governance, with hundreds of UNVs serving as electoral officers, came to the fore of our screen. The outstanding performance of UNVs in these complex situations, and the flexible and responsive systems developed by UNV to make sure that volunteers are in the right place at the right time is such that today UNV is acknowledged as a key player both within and beyond the UN system. Our profile increased even more with our historic move to Bonn and the castle by the Rhine! A momentous move that we managed to achieve with minimal impact on our day to day work.

Diversity is another area in which UN Volunteers excel. The international volunteer modality continues to be relevant and is now complemented by exciting innovations developed while I had the privilege of holding the reins, such as the national UNV modality including barefoot community volunteers. These give UNV new strengths in adapting and responding to local traditions and cultures while playing a catalytic role in development. We also worked to stimulate a thematic focus on key new development challenges such as HIV/AIDS and pro-poor globalization. This 30th anniversary year celebrates the International Year of Volunteers which we were delighted to shepherd through with all our partners to its culmination in 2001 - joyfully acknowledging how far UNV has come in placing volunteerism on the world agenda.