Globally, volunteerism contributes to many areas of human development and peace-building. Volunteerism can be the ideal link between global and local: volunteers may have experience of doing things in different ways, with different approaches, and commit themselves to transferring this information in a way that is beneficial to the people whom they serve. Visit site

December is National Volunteer Month. Indeed, the contributions of many volunteers to uplift the condition of our disadvantaged sectors deserve recognition. These are the people who do not count the cost, are moved by a strong spirit and motivation to help improve society and who believe they can, in their own small ways, make the world a better place to live in. Visit site

From June to September 2008, four Vietnamese online volunteers from different backgrounds, both in and outside of Viet Nam, contributed to a stunning UNV Viet Nam website which is accessible to both Vietnamese and English readers. Visit site

The 2008 edition of 'Sailing the Nile for the Millennium Development Goals' combines three different means of transport (feluccas, ICT bus and a train), as opposed to only feluccas. The campaign will continue for two months ending on 13 December, conducting awareness-raising activities promoting volunteerism for the MDGs in seven more governorates across Egypt, namely, Aswan, Qena, Sohag, Assyut, Menia, Beni Suef, Cairo, in addition to the city of Luxor. Read

The UNV Online Volunteering Service connects online volunteers with non-governmental organizations around the world. All you need is some time and an Internet connection. Visit site

UNV volunteer Dillip Kumar Bhanja from India is working in Myanmar as a Disaster Risk Reduction Specialist. Here he discusses his role in partnership with UNDP on developing early warning systems for the future. Visit site

Kazakh newspaper New Generation interviews Italian UNV volunteer Communications Assistant Simona Gallese on her work in Almaty. "I love being a volunteer because I feel I am useful to the society, and I get satisfaction by helping others," she says. Read

Time magazine reports on Teach India, a volunteer programme run by the Times of India, one of India's leading English-language dailies, in collaboration with UNV. 

"Such a visionary and large-scale programme has only been possible because we've been able to get the media, civil society and corporate sector together," says Adeline Aubry, a former UNV Programme Officer under whom the initiative was launched. India has had a long tradition of volunteerism, she says, "but Teach India gives them a giant common platform for a common cause."

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The Executive Director of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Policy Center argues that the Philippines needs to organize its overseas science and technology diaspora into talent pools for collaboration with Philippine industry. He cites UNV's TOKTEN programme as an example of good practice. Visit site

A young Northsider has been held up as an example of the real difference Irish volunteers can make across the globe. Shane Keenan from Clontarf has been living and working as a UNV volunteer child protection worker in Tanzania as part of an innovative programme to provide Irish people with experience in overseas development. Visit site