11 May 2002

Bonn, Germany: "[Volunteerism] empowers people, contributes to building solidarity, encourages participation and ownership, creates networks of reciprocity and reinforces a sense of collective responsibility. It is at the core of the United Nations development goals, and therefore serves the interests of social development."
Nguyen Thanh Chau of Viet Nam at the United Nations General Assembly, 26 November 2002

In the Caribbean, most young people have enough to eat and a bed to sleep on. Over 85 per cent attend primary school and many continue on to secondary school and beyond. Survival is not the issue, but making the right choices in life is. Growing up amidst increasing domestic violence, high rates of teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, it is often difficult to know where to turn. Teaming up with government counterparts and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), a Japanese-sponsored network of UN Volunteers in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, strives to create a world fit for children - by helping children and youth become fit for the world. They pass on skills for healthy living in schools and parent teachers associations (PTAs) and call on decision makers to adopt policies to standardize health and family life education in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) states.

UN Volunteer Petra Buffong carries an important message all over her native Dominica, the region's lush "nature island" with 70,000 inhabitants. "We are preparing our children to be responsible citizens,"she told a PTA gathering in Portsmouth. Meeting teachers, Petra helps develop curricula designed to make pupils think more about the consequences of their actions. Taking the message to the streets, in 2002 she organized a week of activities with Dominica's Ministry of Education that ended with a colourful march through the capital Roseau and a rally covered on national radio and television. Sending the message further, she exchanges experiences with the other UN Volunteers posted throughout the Caribbean on ways children learn best to choose their friends, their fun and their future.

• More than 200 volunteers serving online have helped Teachers Without Borders (TWB) set up its Certificate of Teaching Mastery in such areas as curriculum development and early childhood education. Connecting through the World Wide Web, the online volunteers create outreach programmes to increase TWB membership and inform local communities in Africa, Asia and the Middle East about how to set up Community Teaching and Learning Centres.
• In southern Sekong province, Lao PDR, UN Volunteers help preserve cultural heritage through the "Folktale for Development Project", sponsored by the Government of Japan and UNV. Capturing local customs and traditions as recounted by village elders, teachers weave these stories into classroom materials that document their traditional ways of life. UN Volunteers work with elders and parents, harnessing their enthusiasm for the project into localvoluntary actions- cleaning schoolyards, repairing classrooms and serving as teachers' aides- anything that can encourage children to stay in school. In turn, inspired teachers motivate students, resulting in lower school drop out rates.