23 June 2006

Washington, D.C., USA: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has won this year’s Web4Dev Award for excellence in design and development of the World Volunteer Web, published in partnership with a number of international organizations.

The Web4Dev Awards for 2006 are sponsored by the World Bank and were presented on 21 June at a ceremony in Washington D.C, which linked the three winners through videoconference. The other two winners are the websites of ReliefWeb and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The World Health Organization and the ADB Institute websites received honourable mentions.

Web4Dev, short for Web for Development, is a network of 88 UN, private and non-governmental organizations making use of the Web for development-related work. At the last Web4Dev conference in May 2005, the World Bank offered to sponsor the 2006 Web4Dev Award to recognize examples of exemplary work within the Web4Dev community. Some 26 organizations of the Web4Dev community participated in the competition, from which a panel of seven judges selected the winners and the honourable mentions. Criteria included, among others, quality of content, visual design, layout/navigation, site architecture and interactivity.

Earlier this week at the UNDP Executive Board meeting in Geneva, UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis announced the news of the World Volunteer Web winning the award. He said the website serves as an excellent example of advocating for volunteerism for development – a cornerstone of UNV’s work.

UNV Executive Coordinator, Ad de Raad, in his statement to the Executive Board, said, "The World Volunteer Web was judged to be a model best practice that shows evidence of positive impact on humanitarian aid and development and demonstrates a measurable contribution to the mission of the organization."

The World Volunteer Web serves as the global clearinghouse for information and resources linked to volunteerism that can be used for campaigning, advocacy and networking. It acts as an online hub where the online community can meet, share resources and coordinate activities to mobilize volunteer action in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

It was created in December 2002, following a November 2002 UN General Assembly resolution encouraging UNV to develop a website to continue the momentum generated by the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) in 2001. The site was re-launched in November 2005 with a new design and new functionalities.

In addition to UNV, the World Volunteer Web is supported by: World Alliance for Citizen Participation (CIVICUS), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) , the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Merrill Associates , the Millennium Campaign, OneWorld.net and Portal do Voluntário.