The Conference brought together over 250 participants from 33 countries from all regions of the world and included government leaders, representatives from civil society and from volunteer-involving organisations in both the public and private sectors, media and religious leaders, grass-roots activists and volunteers themselves. They gathered with the objective of exploring and highlighting the role of volunteerism in helping achieve the aims of the Millennium Declaration adopted at the UN Millennium Summit in 2000 and outlining the actions needed to enhance the environment for meaningful cooperative, collective and individual volunteer interventions in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).