01 March 2005

Bonn, Germany: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme’s Online Volunteering (OV) service, which connects non-profit and nongovernmental organizations working in the South with people willing to volunteer their skills over the Internet, marks its fifth anniversary today.

Since its launch in March 2000, some 30,000 people have joined the OV service, with more than half taking on an assignment.

This support has reached more than 600 organizations from the North and South who work to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, empower women, educate children, stop the spread of killer diseases like Aids, and cure other development ills identified as priorities within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals.

Connected at home, in school or universities, in the office, or in libraries, online volunteers complement the work of these organizations by carrying out a multitude of tasks. Examples of engagement include: developing fundraising strategies to expand operations, building networks to generate support for projects, translating documents to achieve greater outreach, and creating websites to publicize and promote.

As UNV’s Executive Coordinator Ad de Raad highlights in his message celebrating the anniversary, the exchange between online volunteers and the organizations they support is a win-win situation.

“For the organizations involving online volunteers, the service has enabled them to tap into an enormous channel of expertise and resources – assistance they might never have got access to otherwise,” he says. “For the individual, online volunteering provides the opportunity to personally contribute to development work and gain a clearer understanding of the development needs and challenges.”

In 2004, more than 700 online volunteering assignments were posted to the service. Most organizations asked for more than one volunteer, with some requesting up to 50. At any given time, there are between 150 and 300 opportunities available on the service’s web site.

“Online volunteering, in an outstanding and highly effective way, helps to harness the wealth of willingness, resources and commitment that exists in the volunteer world,” says Mike Tozer of Global Hand, a Hong Kong-based NGO. “So often, people want to help, but simply don’t know how to get involved. The OV service provides a way that is both simple and accessible for such people and, yet, changes lives in very practical ways.”

To find out more about how the OV service and online volunteers are contributing to development, please visit the special anniversary website. Here you will find a series of stories on online volunteers and the organizations they support.