The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has launched the first in an ongoing series of Practice Notes designed to build the capacity of UNV Field Units in volunteer management.
 
The Practice Notes comprise about 20 pages of practical information to facilitate programming by providing relevant background information, basic concepts related to a specific focus area as well as lessons learned and good practice recommendations to be drawn from an in-depth analysis of concrete case studies. Visit site

To provide the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in Bosnia and Herzegovina with a coherent framework for working with civil society actors in Bosnia and Herzegovina to better facilitate volunteerism and civic engagement, the UNV Field Unit for Bosnia and Herzegovina conducted a review and assessment of the civil society reports and needs assessments for Bosnia and Herzegovina released since 2008. This report sketches out some of the key characteristics of and challenges facing the civil society sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 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

The China Volunteer Report 2011, launched during the recent celebration of the 30th anniversary of UNV in China, is now available for download in English and Chinese here and at the UNDP China website.  Read

Making a difference: An assessment of volunteer interventions addressing gender-based violence in Cambodia (Partners for Prevention, 2010)  highlights the crucial role and the far-reaching positive effects that community volunteers play in the prevention and response to gender-based violence. Read