Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require the ingenuity, solidarity, and creativity of millions of ordinary people though voluntary action. Efforts on the part of national governments, supported by the international community, can only complement what ultimately will depend on the full involvement of people all over the world. Six billion people have something to contribute. Recognizing this fact is the first step on the road towards harnessing this vast resource in a global effort to meet the MDG targets.

In encouraging global partnerships for development, the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme works with private sector companies in the south to help establish business-community programmes targeting grassroots communities. UNV also actively encourages and facilitates corporate volunteering through which private sector companies extend the services of their employees, free of charge, to community-focused development initiatives.

UNV’s work in advocating volunteerism focuses on the promotion, recognition, facilitation and networking of volunteer action, including:

Through individual volunteers, the UN Volunteers programme

• Extends technical assistance to emerging private companies in the South;
• Facilitates placement of company staff in development programmes;
• Designs a corporate volunteering methodology to serve as a reference for interested companies;
• Assists companies in setting up business ventures with the local community;
• Supports companies in creating corporate volunteering schemes;
• Develops capacity of businesses in the south for web-based marketing and e- commerce.

Through volunteer-involving organizations (VIOs), the UN Volunteers programme

• Promotes dialogue between the business community and volunteer, community- based and non-governmental organizations at the local level;
•  Encourages volunteering-involving organizations to mobilize local volunteers to enhance good corporate citizenship;
• Helps develop organizational and operational capacity of corporate volunteering schemes;
• Furthers business-community partnerships for local participants;
• Communicates good practices to both civil society and companies to enhance corporate partnerships for local development.

Through volunteer networks, the UN Volunteers programme

• Bolsters networks of corporate solidarity to support the development of an emerging private sector throughout the South;
• Cultivates networks of companies involved in corporate volunteering and business- community relations for cross-fertilization of experiences and advocacy purposes.