Vienna, Austria: To make the UN more relevant to young people, the UN Secretary-General announced that he will expand the United Nations Volunteers programme, to open its doors for young people, and will appoint the first-ever United Nations Special Adviser on Youth. Read

Bentiu, Unity State, South Sudan: “Most rewarding about my UNV assignment is that I participate in conflict mitigation and am part of the solution seeking team.  So saying, it is particularly interesting for me to see that most people we interact with know the causes and solutions of conflicts but continue engaging in bloody clashes that claim many lives.” Read

La Paz, Bolivia: Community Promoters for Human Rights are volunteers selected by their own communities to disseminate information about children’s rights and to report any rights’ violations. Part of their work focuses on promoting volunteerism as a tool to prevent violence in Bolivia. Read

Lake States, South Sudan: “As a UN Volunteer working with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) it is imperative for me to contribute my expertise and experience to activities that mitigate social exclusion in society.

I liaise with county government, local authorities and communities in an attempt to prevent or alleviate conflicts.” Read

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to experience high levels of youth unemployment, social exclusion and irregular youth migration. In response, UNV has joined UNDP, UNICEF, IOM and UNFPA to implement the Youth Employability and Retention Programme. Read

Gonaives, Haiti: "Change is often slow within the field of law enforcement, but little by little we started to notice that the judicial process for several pre-trial detainees was speeding up, and that minors kept in detention were less frequently encountered." Read

The World Day of Social Justice on 20 February is an opportunity to bring attention to the barriers to social well-being that people face due to gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, culture or disability.  This Day serves to support efforts in poverty eradication, the promotion of full employment, gender equity and justice for all. UNV recognizes the efforts of all those who are working to advance social justice. Visit site

Guatemala City, Guatemala: “My work motivates indigenous people, people with disabilities and youth to gain full consciousness of their rights and to organize themselves by creating networks that will help them fight together to improve their situation.” Read

Oecussi District, Timor-Leste: “Through coordination meetings between all actors, we help find solutions to issues related to local access to justice, the delivery of notifications to the sub-districts, targeted logistical and administrative support during criminal hearings for victims, witnesses and accused - in a bid to ensure that all parties can ably understand, use and access justice services, without confronting any barriers” Read

Voluntary citizen participation is an essential part of civil society, which in turn is a key contributor to sustainable development, human rights, good governance and social justice. 2011, the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10), saw an upsurge of such action in different forms in many countries around the world.

Looking back on 2011, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme have combined to analyze contemporary trends in voluntary action and make recommendations for policy-makers, civil society, and volunteer involving organizations, in our new publication, Broadening Civic Space through Voluntary Action. Read