The environmental movement was started by volunteers, and it has thrived on volunteer effort. It will require the ingenuity and actions of millions of volunteers to address the challenges ahead.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme encourages people to contribute to environmental sustainability by ‘volunteering for our planet’. Read

This Guidance Note is intended for use by stakeholders involved in supporting country analysis and the preparation and implementation of United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs). Read

A resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly pertaining to the follow-up in 2011 to the International Year of Volunteers. Read

Today, United Nations Day and World Development Information Day, CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation, the International Association for Volunteer Effort (IAVE) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme are pleased to launch a joint publication, Volunteering and Social Activism: Pathways for participation in human development.  The paper is based on a study undertaken by the three organisations in 2007-2008.   The background study finds that both volunteering and social activism are important strategies for fostering people’s participation in social change and human development. Read

On 6 October 2008, UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri spoke to a UN General Assembly committee to introduce a report on progress since the International Year of Volunteers in 2001. Her speech outlines some of the recommendations made in the report, and looks forward to the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers. Read