Bonn, Germany: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, the Inter-American Development Bank’s Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development and the UN-Habitat will launch “Cities with Heart” on International Volunteer Day, 5 December. Read

Sao Paolo, Brazil: United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme distributed information kits on volunteerism and the Millennium Development Goals to some 20,000 schools and 5,000 state in Brazil. Read

Brasilia, Brazil: Norway, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) today signed an agreement in Brasília to strengthen and improve the networks among rural black communities in the South American country. Read

Brasilia, Brazil: United Nations Volunteers are spearheading a new initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and local partners to redistribute used computer equipment in a bid to help bridge the digital divide in Brazil. Read

Bonn, Germany: Working with local volunteers in the Andean and Amazon regions, Jose Carlo Burga, a Peruvian UNVolunteer, has sparked renewed interest in local culture and human rights. Young indigenous volunteers, who rarely communicate in their mother tongues in this Spanishspeaking society, found themselves working closely with village elders, rediscovering the value of their language and gaining an understanding of their rights. With UNDP's assistance, they translated the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into eight indigenous languages. Read

BONN: Brazil shows an unbelievable increase in the number of people involved in social activities on a voluntary basis. This boom of voluntary work in recent decades makes us think that the major challenge for the Government is to strengthen, organize and integrate this gigantic force into a project to build a fairer society. Read

Curitiba, Brazil: Vincent Lefebvre works as a UN Volunteer specialist in the International Centre of Specialists Volunteers (ICSV) Curitiba, the capital of Paraná State in Brazil. The United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) set up the ICSV centre to house a working group of international UNV specialists and national volunteers whose task is to promote development, human and civil rights in Brazil. Read

New York, USA: This presenation was done by Marcos Kisil, President, IDIS -Institute for Development of Social Investment in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the UNDP Executive Board Special Session, New York, 21 June 2001. Read

Rio de Janeiro/Bonn: Volunteers around the world take up key roles in a weekly "million-person march" to urban centres that persistently escapes the media spotlight, according to Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV). Read

It has been quite a year! Working in partnership with many organizations, we are seizing opportunities to raise the visibility of volunteerism and recognize its contribution; to encourage and honour civic engagement; to help strengthen civil society; and thereby to strengthen ourselves and the communities in which we live. Read