26 August 2004

Barcelona, Spain: I would like to begin by extending my appreciation to Liz Burns, President of IAVE and to IAVE for continuing to provide a forum where the world volunteer movement can meet and exchange ideas; to the organizing committee for having done such an efficient job in putting this conference together; to the people of Barcelona for having been such wonderful hosts; and last but certainly not least to all participants who, over four days, have demonstrated so much passion and commitment to the cause of volunteering.

Participating in this final plenary session of IAVE’s World Assembly gives me particular pleasure. I say this for a number of reasons. First, it is with a real sense of satisfaction that I sit on this platform alongside Liz and David Kalete, Programmes Director with CIVICUS who represent two organizations which contribute greatly to the volunteer movement at large. I am especially pleased that we together - CIVICUS, IAVE and UNV - have entered into a formal partnership. The distinct missions and constituencies of each of our organizations truly complement one another in moving the volunteer agenda forward.

I am also happy to be here on this the last day of the World Assembly because we have now had the benefit of four days full of discussion. They have been extraordinarily informative and inspirational. I am sure we will all return to our work with renewed vigour and determination to ensure the contribution of volunteerism is maximized. We have had an opportunity to network, to renew old friendships and acquaintances, and to establish new ones which will help our efforts to promote and support volunteerism back in our own communities and countries.

Finally, today is also a fitting context for this panel. The topic, Volunteer Work, a Key Actor for a Sustainable Community, is the overarching issue all of us face in our work outside this conference room. I am sure many of you have heard of the Millennium Declaration, adopted by the 189 Heads of State and Governments at the Millennium Summit held in the United Nations General Assembly in September 2000. In the Declaration, the world community firmly committed itself to an expanded vision of poverty reduction and pro-poor growth, one that vigorously places human development at the centre of social and economic progress in all countries. This commitment is expressed through eight Millennium Development Goals or MDGs – goals with measurable targets within specific time frames. The first and all encompassing goal is eradicating poverty – 1,200 million people struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day. Another Goal is ensuring environmental sustainability. Others are central to social development – achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, and combating HIV/AIDS and other diseases. The eighth and final goal, directed at the industrialized countries, is about trade, debt, and the financial system. The MDGs are all technically and economically attainable but their achievement requires the full engagement of governments on the one hand and, on the other, the engagement of millions of ordinary people in playing their part through voluntary action.

For the volunteer movement at large, the MDGs are both an opportunity and a responsibility. Let me explain.

For the first time in the history of development efforts, the world is singing from the same sheet of music. This presents us all with tremendous opportunities. Any initiative of any individual or organization, large or small, which can demonstrate a connection to the achievement of the MDGs stands a good chance of being recognized by others engaged in development efforts as “mainstream” and, in principle, deserving of attention. The MDGs are now the common currency of development work – a point of reference for everything we do. They represent a fresh look at development challenges and also a clear call for action. Ask yourselves what you can do for the MDGs – and also what the MDGs can do for you. A growing number of NGOs are now getting acquainted with the MDGs and seeing that in fact their work is more often than not aligned anyway to one or more of the Goals. For the activist end of the volunteer equation, as I am sure David would agree, holding governments accountable for their actions is certainly one of the key areas of interest to civil society. For those for whom volunteering is identified more with service delivery, the MDGs provide a framework for articulating the work in which you are engaged, for sharing this with other volunteer involving organizations, and for establishing partnerships.

I should mention here that International Volunteer Day (IVD) every 5 December is focusing more and more on the contribution of volunteerism to the MDGs. A recent survey has shown that in 2003 some 126 countries, 90 from the developing world, marked IVD. Of these, some 76 focused on one or more of the MDGs. I urge everyone here today to approach this year’s IVD 2004 strategically, bringing the MDGs even more to the forefront. Connect with the national IVD planning process in your country. With creativity and planning, the Day can be a wonderful moment to highlight the work of your organization both nationally and internationally and to make lasting contacts that can contribute to helping ensure the sustainability of your efforts. Mark 5 December in your diaries. We in the UN Volunteer programme are ready to provide you with any support we can to help you maximize the impact of IVD on your projects and programmes as well as on the organizations your work for.

If MDGs are an opportunity, they are also our responsibility. They were established to ensure that disadvantaged people around the world can lead better lives. And it is through volunteerism that large numbers of people are currently engaged in the task of helping to bring about a betterment in their lives. Indeed, it is hard to see how the MDGs can be achieved without the mobilization of many millions of people. The volunteer movement has an extraordinarily critical and complementary role to play in helping to harness and channel volunteer energy towards achieving the MDGs. Of course it needs support to help meet its full potential – we must lobby governments to ensure they live up to the volunteer related commitments made around the International Year of Volunteers; we must continue to knock on the doors of funders for the resources to help volunteer involving organizations live up to expectations placed upon them; we must engage the private sector to partner with others in the global development effort; we need to strengthen existing alliances and form new ones so that the full weight of the volunteer movement’s collective knowledge, experience and networks can be brought to bear on the major challenges of our times.

At the end of the day, opportunities and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin. In the year 2000, some ten million people volunteered, mostly in their own local communities, to support the immunization of 550 million children against polio. They gained a sense of satisfaction and even empowerment that comes from contributing actively to the life of one’s community. The actual contribution of the volunteers, in economic terms, has been estimated at more than US$ 10 billion, far beyond the reach of governments or international and national organizations.

Let me now say a few words about how we, at the United Nations Volunteers, are placing the MDGs at the centre of our mission. We are expressing our approach through three dimensions, namely individual volunteers, volunteer-involving organizations and volunteer networks – with the focus of all three on driving forward the volunteer agenda on a sustainable basis. UNV helps developing countries address human capacity limitations in achieving the MDGs through the services of skilled and experienced professional women and men – more than 5,500 last year - who are willing to volunteer talent and time in a wide range of areas of development and humanitarian work. UNV also helps strengthen the operational capacity of local volunteer-involving organizations with a view to assisting them to scale-up and replicate activities which are helping to meet national policy objectives. UNV’s third area of focus is to contribute to the strengthening of networks that help to enhance transparency and accountability and which provide space for individuals and groups to learn from one another about best practices in volunteerism for development. One such example is our work in managing the WorldVolunteerWeb. Cutting across these three areas of focus are our efforts to enhance the enabling environment for volunteering through initiatives such as awareness raising of the general public, development professionals and decision makers as to the contributions of volunteerism; encouraging and supporting volunteer infrastructure; promoting volunteer friendly legislation; prospecting, experimenting and advocating for innovative approaches that strengthen the contribution of volunteerism to development.

In barely one year’s time world leaders, your leaders, will gather at the United Nations in New York to review progress made over the five years since the adoption of the Millennium Declaration of 2000. The picture is not positive. The world is seriously off track on almost all the MDGs. In the words of the UN Secretary General, the question in the air will be “why are we not meeting these goals?”. There are many complex issues here – poor countries have to put their houses in order, improve in particular their governance and build up their human resources. Rich countries have to give more aid and offer more debt relief and trade opportunities.

Volunteering is of course not a panacea for addressing all of the world’s ills. But to ignore the contributions that many millions volunteers make, and not to factor volunteerism into official policy and programmes, is a fundamental mistake. I feel like co-opting the TINA maxim “There …Is… No… Alternative”. All of us who care about volunteerism, and who feel in our bones that our work is all too often undervalued, have to renew our efforts in convincing governments that there is a massive potential out there which, if properly resourced, can be harnessed and channeled towards making a significant contribution to achieving each one of the MDGs.

It took many years for governments to recognize the contribution that NGOs can make to development, and we have finally seen NGOs receiving due recognition and respect. Similarly, it took years for governments to recognize the necessity of partnering with the private sector, and we now see a concerted effort to harness the vast influence and resources that the private sector brings to the table. It is now time for governments to act on United Nations General Assembly resolutions they have adopted which state that volunteerism is a valuable resource for achieving development goals. Ignoring volunteerism, failing to promote it, failing to strengthen it, failing to assess how it can be leveraged, failing to use it strategically to help meet development targets, amounts to squandering this resource. Today, let’s ask ourselves: what can we do to prevent that from happening?

IYV in 2001 helped to increase understanding around the world of the role and contribution of volunteerism and it provided a myriad of ways in which voluntary action can be encouraged and supported. The trail has been blazed – now we have to go down it because it leads to a safer, more prosperous and equitable world for all. The Indian sage Anthony de Mello said that “As long as you travel to a goal, you can hold onto a dream”. The Goals have never been clearer, and they should be within our grasp. As we leave this conference today, I feel that we are indeed traveling together and are one step closer to realizing a common dream. If all the energy and creativity we have seen at this conference is representative of what the volunteer movement can offer, which I believe to be the case, just imagine what can be achieved!

A big thanks to all of you.