This is our first meeting since we celebrated UNV’s 30th anniversary. So, colleagues and friends, I am here to tell you that there is indeed life after 30! During 2001, more than 5,000 UN Volunteers representing 160 nationalities served in 140 countries around the globe. Even as we speak, they are filling an astonishing array of assignments.

This is also the first time we have come together since the end of the International Year of Volunteers. It has truly been a remarkable and inspiring year.

Let me begin by saying that IYV 2001 raised the visibility of volunteerism and increased understanding of its contributions to economic and social development; it encouraged and honored civic engagement; it helped strengthen volunteer networks; and it lifted volunteerism higher on both national and international agendas.

In the video that you have just seen, United Nations leaders gave accounts of their personal experiences with volunteering. Obviously, no single narrative can capture the scope of volunteerism. But each of us tells the story in our own way, and it becomes an authentic, valuable rendering.

The sequel to this video would probably begin at the end of IYV…
The date: 5 December 2001.
The place: the UN General Assembly ceremony marking the official close of the International Year.

Standing at the podium is Soledad Condore, an indigenous Chilean who spent a lot of her life warding off discrimination and ridicule. Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined that she would one day address General Assembly delegates in her indigenous language, and tell them of her important work.

Soledad Condore is one of almost 400 UN Volunteers who has served with the UN Verification Mission in Guatemala. The mission was formed to monitor the terms of a peace process that was set in motion in 1996 to put an end to nearly four decades of armed conflict that took the lives of over 150,000 people.

Her work can be dangerous. It is psychologically difficult. She often feels drained. But she is doing what she wants to do--working to build and sustain peace by acknowledging and respecting fundamental human rights, including the rights of the indigenous people of Guatemala.

Soledad Condore is not effective despite the bias and hardship she has met in her life, but because of it. It is because of her life experience that the indigenous people of Guatemala place their trust in Soledad and volunteers like her. It is because of the insight she brings to her work that she can make a difference. She exemplifies the trust and confidence that volunteers engender, through their own life experience, and through their association with the united nations.

Our video would then cut to another ceremony: it is now 19 May 2002. We are in East Timor, and an “honour guard” of six people is poised, ready to lower the blue flag of the United Nations.

One of them is UN Volunteer Tarik Jasarevic. The crowd knows well the journey that has brought East Timor to this moment. But few can imagine the road that has brought Tarik to this place and time.

Tarik is a Muslim from Sarajevo. Ten years ago, at age 19, he joined the Bosnian army. He fought in the trenches of a terrible war, determined to help defend his native city. He survived. Many around him did not. After “demobilizing” himself, Tarik earned a scholarship to study political science and social communication. He became a UNV in 1999, serving first in neighbouring Kosovo. His IYV 2001 was spent in East Timor, as a public information officer, where he proved to be a top-notch organizer and campaigner.

I was there, in East Timor, as the UN flag came down last May. And I can tell you that everyone was moved by the poignancy of this historic event. But as I watched Tarik take part in the ceremony, I thought about the special resonance that the occasion had for him. In all, some 3,000 UNVs from over 100 countries have served in East Timor since 1999, helping to facilitate the transformation that took place there.

Transformation is the key word. As countries transform themselves, UN Volunteers like Soledad and Tarik, recognize and help build upon existing capacities to effect change. And in the process, they undergo a personal transformation that affects and inspires others. Just ask Tarik--he will tell you that his bleak worldview, shaped by the grim experience of war, was forever altered by his experience in East Timor. Like most volunteers, he says that he got more than he gave.

And UNVs give a lot, directly addressing UNDP’s agenda. They not only support the South-South cooperation that is an important part of UNDP’s mission; they exemplify it. Almost 70 per cent are themselves from the South. They also provide crucial support to the United Nations system, partnering with a wide range of UN agencies. Like volunteers everywhere, they do it by building on the traditions of mutual assistance, solidarity and reciprocity that can be found in virtually every society.

In the sphere of human development, a major goal is to build social capital. But in the process, we sometimes forget to capitalize on what is already at our disposal. We overlook the habits of caring and bonds of reciprocity that already exist.

Virtually every known culture and every known religion has a tradition of voluntary involvement in the wider community. In the Andes, the term is minga, in Kenya, people speak of harambi, in Indonesia, it is gotong royong….. I could go on, Mr. President, but the list is endless and the point is made. One of the most important functions of the International Year, in my view, was drawing attention to these cultural commitments.

And so, I can assure you that IYV 2001 did not derail UNV from “existing priorities”, as some had feared; rather, it sharpened the focus.

We worked with national committees in 125 countries, encouraging them to articulate their concept of volunteerism, rooted in their traditions and cultural understandings. And we built from there.

Through the work of the national committees, IYV helped to strengthen the policy framework and infrastructure needed to support volunteerism. It also led to legislation in many countries aimed at facilitating and motivating volunteer action.

All of this was possible through the committed collaboration of a range of stakeholders including governments, UN partners, private sector contributors and civil society organizations. Special mention must also be made here of the tremendous support we received from the UNDP country offices.

It became increasingly clear, as the year proceeded, that our primary role was to help unleash creativity. We did not need to invent or import the volunteer spirit. Rather, we needed to honour and nurture what was already there. We needed to provide tools that could be used in each country to shape an agenda, mobilize people, and manage the process.

At UNV, these insights have informed our programming and planning. In this way, IYV laid a firm foundation for future programmes targeted at promoting volunteerism for development in places as diverse as Albania, China, Egypt, Honduras, Indonesia, Jamaica, Mali, Samoa and South Africa.

The Administrator’s report on the biennium tells a very positive story. But before I talk about the report, let me assure you that the glasses I wear are not rose-coloured. At UNV, we are aware of challenges that have not yet been met. We know that not every volunteer or project is perfect.

We know through evaluations that UNV adds significant value to programmes and projects through the work of our volunteers. But we are also aware of the need for greater precision in assessing impact. In this respect, the role of our partners in incorporating the contributions of volunteers when reporting their outcomes is critical. However, we will continue to strengthen our own performance reporting framework, fully reflecting both the contributions of individual volunteers and the promotion of volunteerism.

Now, Mr. President, let me highlight some of the key messages of the board report:

UNV continues to promote volunteerism as a development concept. It does so by building on a culture of volunteerism and by mobilizing skilled, dedicated people--on- site and on-line--to devote their time and knowledge in the pursuit of sustainable development.
UN Volunteers partner with governments and non-governmental organizations as well as with UN agencies, funds, and programmes such as UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNFPA and UNDP in addressing a wide range of development goals.
UN Volunteers work with communities and local institutions to strengthen their capacity in mapping out their own development priorities.
They contribute to bridging the digital divide by helping information-poor communities to benefit from information technologies.
Working to build trust, they support the peacekeeping, peace-building, electoral processes, and humanitarian relief operations of UNHCR, WFP and DPKO.
HIV-infected UN Volunteers combat the spread of AIDS, from building government capacity to counseling sex workers and in so doing courageously challenge those who would stigmatize them.
Corporate volunteering, university volunteer schemes, on-line volunteering and intern programmes are further examples of ways in which UNV is expanding opportunities for more people to engage in volunteer action for development.
I have already underscored the work undertaken during IYV. However, it is important to note that on 5 December 2001, 126 Member States co-sponsored a comprehensive General Assembly resolution on ways in which governments and the UN system can support volunteering.
Through all of these activities, UNV is now positioned to become a people’s portal to the UN. But our capacity to do so hinges, to a great extent, on our strategic relationship and synergy with UNDP. It also hinges on securing increased contributions to the UNV Special Voluntary Fund, the primary means at our disposal to pilot initiatives that demonstrate the relevance and value-added of volunteerism.

When I spoke to you two years ago, I said that in the past volunteerism had been largely undervalued and overlooked as a vehicle for social and economic development, but I assured you that the word was out--that it wasn’t a secret anymore.

Today, I can reassert that conviction. More than ever before, the power and value of volunteer action is appreciated by those who work on social issues. In the Commission on Social Development and in the Third Committee of the General Assembly, many of the myths about volunteerism have been exploded.

Our next challenge is to instill the same level of appreciation among those who focus on economic development. Clearly, it is easier when one can measure the value of outcomes. But measurement is only part of the answer. As Einstein once said, what can be measured is not always important and what is important cannot always be measured. Thus, we also need to get across the importance of volunteerism in creating social cohesion, reciprocity, and trust--phenomena at the heart of development that are difficult to quantify.

The International Year of Volunteers sent a powerful message about the value of volunteerism--and it has reached many places. But it has not spread everywhere. Today we are looking to you, our Executive Board, for confirmation that we are on the right track.

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 is one of the biggest challenges facing the international community. Financing improvements in education and health, for instance, will require significantly increased aid flows. But it should also be noted that mass literacy and immunization campaigns can only succeed with the efforts of millions of local people through traditional systems of mutual aid and self-help as well as through more modern forms of service volunteering and campaigning. And the value-added of volunteerism lies not only in “getting the job done”. It also enhances the quality of the action, increases the likelihood for sustainability of the results, and adds to a nation’s social capital. Harnessing this untapped potential will be key in meeting the Millennium targets.

This is the message we want to bring to those who have not yet fully appreciated the power or value of volunteer action. It’s a tall order--but with the partnership of UNDP, and support from you, the Member States, I believe we can help fill it.

In closing, on behalf of all of us at UNV, I want to acknowledge the encouragement and assistance you have invested in us during this very challenging and exciting biennium.

Thank you very much.