08 November 2004

Maastricht, Netherlands: To tackle poverty in the developing world, Ad de Raad, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, says countries in the North must increase its support to volunteering in the South, including a greater acknowledgement of volunteerism as a main partner in development.

Speaking at the first full day of Eurofestation, a three-day European conference and exchange forum on volunteering and corporate community involvement hosted by the Netherlands, Mr. de Raad urged European Union member states to review their international development policies to ensure assistance to volunteering in the South is not excluded.

“The recognition countries in the North afford to volunteering and volunteerism at home is still largely absent when these same countries consider their responsibilities towards assisting countries in the developing world,” says Mr. de Raad. “Those working in government should consider their own country’s overseas aid policies and ask themselves why the enormous contribution of volunteerism on the domestic front is overlooked in international development policies - and consider what can be done about it.”

Mr. de Raad also encouraged members of civil society to lobby their parliamentary representatives to get volunteering on the aid agenda, and asked the business community to examine what it can do to channel part of its resources to support the mobilization of voluntary action in the developing world.

Links were also made to the role of volunteers in helping achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Mr. de Raad highlighted UNV’s involvement, together with its partners, in ensuring that the contribution of volunteerism to the achievement of the MDGs is maximized. At the opening of Eurofestation held on Sunday, 7 November, Eveline Herfkens, the UN Secretary General's Executive Coordinator of the MDG Campaign, said the MDGs provide today's generation with the framework to put an end to extreme poverty.

Also speaking during today’s discussion forum on the importance of volunteering for society and the role of government and the private sector were Fiona Mactaggart, Member of Parliament and Minister for Race Equality, Community Policy and Civil Renewal, United Kingdom, Marijke Steenbergen, Executive Director of CIVIQ, a Dutch non-profit volunteer agency, and Lucas Meijs, professor at the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.