19 June 2003

Bonn, Germany: In a sixth straight year of growth, a record 5,234 mid-career professionals served with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in 2002 to promote peace, relief and development initiatives through volunteer action.

According to Weaving the Web, UNV's Annual Report for 2002 released today, the UN Volunteers represented 158 nationalities and worked in 139 nations and countries in economic transition. Seventy per cent were from developing countries, serving at home or abroad to foster South-South cooperation.

Carrying out 5,554 individual assignments, they continued in key activities to assist those living with HIV/AIDS. They mobilized communities to create jobs and improve living conditions. They helped information-poor communities benefit from information technologies.

UN Volunteers also supported electoral processes, humanitarian relief, peace-building and peacekeeping. Last year, large numbers of UN Volunteers took up assignments within United Nations missions in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Kosovo, Sierra Leone and Timor-Leste.

This report symbolizes a colourful patchwork of voluntary action by the UNV programme and its global and local partners, all working together to create conditions for a better world," said UNV Executive Coordinator Sharon Capeling-Alakija. "In 2002, we witnessed many examples of the pivotal role of voluntary action in economic and social development. Indeed, promoting volunteerism as a powerful force for development is - and will remain - a significant part of UNV's mission."

In the follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) 2001, UNV continued to work with the UN system, governments, non-governmental organizations and communities alike to further promote voluntary action globally. Responding to the demand from partners around the world, UNV worked with its volunteer network to create the WorldVolunteerWeb.org (web resource on volunteering) which was launched on 5 December 2002 - International Volunteer Day. On 26 November, 142 Member States co-sponsored a substantive post-IYV General Assembly resolution underscoring the role of volunteerism in helping countries reach development targets such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"Over the years, UN Volunteers have worked in tangible ways to support the principles underlying the MDGs," said Mark Malloch Brown, administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in his foreword to the report. Through health promotion, income generation and support to schools, UN Volunteers are "important players" in meeting these targets. Their contribution, he added, is multiplied many times over when considering their potential impact "through local volunteers in the communities where they serve".

Since starting its operations in 1971, the Bonn-based UNV programme has mobilized over 30,000 UN Volunteers to work primarily in the areas of community-based development, humanitarian relief, electoral and peace-building processes and development cooperation. UN Volunteers have a university education or advanced technical training as well as several years of work experience. Most of the UN Volunteers are recruited to work for requesting UN agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).