04 May 2001

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to you today-as we approach the midway point in the 2001 odyssey known as the International Year of Volunteers.

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.

Around the globe, national committees in more than 120 countries-as well as many states and cities-including Rio--are raising the banner of IYV 2001. Some have found unique ways to mark the year.

Let me make special mention of our host Brazil, which has made IYV 2001 quite literally a space odyssey. Coinciding with the launch of IYV in December, a rocket blasted off from Natal in northern Brazil, bearing a special tribute to all volunteers. Inspired by Neil Armstrong, the message reads "Volunteer: a tiny human gesture, an immense contribution to humanity." The rocket is helping to advance research in microgravity, and will support construction of the world's largest space laboratory.

Today, I hope to share with you my excitement about the role of volunteers in strengthening communities around the world, as well as the contributions that local authorities can make to development efforts at home and abroad. But first, allow me a confession. I am a news addict. I am constantly tuned in to bulletins from around the world. So I would like to bring to your attention one important news item that has escaped general notice-a million-person march that took place over the last week. So far as I know, this event was not featured in a single newspaper, magazine, or broadcast anywhere in the world.

I'm talking about the rapid movement of large numbers of people into urban centres. Demographers tell us that the world's cities grow by 1 million people each week! We started the 20th century with perhaps a dozen cities claiming 1 million residents or more. We have begun the 21st century with several hundred cities of that size.

The "pull" of the city and the "push" of rural poverty are resulting in migration on a vast scale. Today, towns and cities are playing an increasingly important role in human history. As the Secretary-General of Habitat II Dr. Wally N'dow has commented, cities make the global economy possible. Where cities do not work, economies stagnate; if cities fail, economies fail; and if economies fail, states-particularly weak states-fail.

And so, urbanisation is arguably the boldest headline of the last century. Some of the people behind that headline--the individuals who are responsible for managing this dramatic change-are right here in this room. You are the people who are dealing with building and maintaining an infrastructure capable of feeding, sheltering, transporting, employing, and educating vast numbers of people; for providing them with clean air and safe drinking water; and for removing their waste products. Moreover, you understand better than the rest of us the linkages among these tasks, and the dangers of dealing with them in a piecemeal fashion.

On behalf of the United Nations Volunteers programme, and the thousands of UN Volunteers who have worked in urban settings around the globe, let me say how deeply your efforts are appreciated--and how greatly they are needed.

For those of you who may not know us, let me say a brief word about United Nations Volunteers. UNV was created by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1970 to serve as a partner in development cooperation. It is unique within the UN family as an international volunteer undertaking.

Over the last three decades, more than 20,000 UN Volunteers from almost 160 developing and industrialized nations have worked in about 150 countries. UNV is a very powerful example of South-South cooperation: the great majority of UNVs-nearly 70 percent-are citizens of developing countries.

Making cities work for people is a very critical part of our mission. While many people imagine that international volunteers spend their time in remote villages, and indeed, many of them do, in fact, many UN Volunteers are also hard at work in cities and towns across the developing world-especially shantytowns and inner cities.

Let me cite just a few examples:

In Bulgaria, UNVs with urban planning and architectural expertise have dedicated themselves to revitalizing old cities. By restoring buildings, streets and parks.

In several Caribbean island states, UNV specialists are working in urban settings to prevent drug abuse and treat addicts.

Many UNVs are working with street children in cities around the world. In Viet Nam's Ho Chi Minh City, which has an estimated 10,000 street children, UN Volunteers together with the city's child welfare foundation set up "street vision," an educational program which gives children the chance to study drama, circus activities, and photography, as well as to exhibit their work. UNV has also joined UNICEF in launching the child friendly cities initiative in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, to meet the needs of the most vulnerable urban children.

These are just a few of the ways that UNVs are helping to address the problems of citydwellers. And of course, volunteers from many, many other organizations are working just as hard, and are making a difference in communities around the world. Their "tiny human gestures" are part of the immense contribution to humanity that volunteers worldwide make every day. I might add, at this point, that I know I am preaching to the choir. Many of you have served as volunteers, at home or abroad; and most of you have tremendous experience working with volunteers in your localities.

In fact, when it comes to inspiring and strengthening volunteer effort, people who work in local government can make especially important contributions. Let me quickly mention four important challenges that local authorities are well positioned to meet:

First and foremost, local authorities can take steps to promote the strong community institutions that are needed to solve the complex problems associated with poverty in many cities. HIV infection is a particularly devastating example-especially in Africa. Affordable treatment is part of the solution-but only part. African health officials believe that strengthening civil society must also be a key element in any strategy to fight the epidemic.

A case in point is Senegal, where HIV infection levelled off at 1.5 per cent of adults, compared with infection rates well above 15 percent in some other African countries. Experts believe that strong community institutions and sustained volunteer efforts. Have helped to stem the spread of disease. These efforts range from groups of women educating other women, to families and villages coming together to care for aids orphans, to widespread education about condom use in every dialect.

Second, local authorities can take the lead in efforts to expand and redefine volunteerism. IYV 2001 provides a wonderful opportunity to reconsider the meaning of volunteerism, and the diverse forms it takes. Our conception of volunteerism is much broader than simply the contribution of services-where donors of time provide assistance to recipients. Reciprocity is a central tenet of volunteerism.

We see efforts like city-to-city projects as a form of volunteerism--one that allows ordinary people to become diplomats, advisors, and learners. I want to applaud these initiatives. We know that when individuals who leave home to volunteer in other countries or cities eventually come home, they bring with them new insights and skills. They strengthen their own communities--not only by applying new competencies, but also by infusing their societies with the spirit of volunteerism.

Third, local authorities are well positioned to practice and make use of new forms of volunteer effort. Today, building a strong technology infrastructure is a crucial challenge for local governments. It is a challenge that UNV is facing as well--since we are currently taking the lead in implementing a new UN initiative, the United Nations Information Technology Service--or UNITeS. UNITeS is the brainchild of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan launched in his Millennium Report. It is a worldwide programme to help bridge the digital divide by mobilizing IT-savvy volunteers to work with developing country partners in the application of technology to human development, in particular in areas of vital importance to all of you, such as health, education, environment, small enterprises and micro-finance.

And fourth, people who run towns and cities can provide crucial expertise in trouble spots around the world. We can bear witness to this need, because today, many UNVs are supporting UN agencies in areas of crisis, such as Kosovo and East Timor. In such places, when local authorities break down or are in transition, the UN is often called upon to fill the gap, carrying out many of the functions ordinarily assumed by local authorities. As reconstruction and rehabilitation proceed, there is a desperate need for people who know how to run fire departments, schools and local water supply facilities--in short, people who can restore the miracle of humdrum daily life. There is a crying need for individuals with experience in local government who are willing to serve the United Nations as short-term volunteers, assisting with such operations.

In short, as we move beyond IVY 2001 into the new century, all of you in this room are directly positioned to encourage, sustain, and redefine volunteerism. It can be done. Promoting volunteerism is not rocket science--or so we might have said, were it not for Brazil's intergalactic launch of IYV 2001. But without mobilizing volunteer effort, many of the problems that all of you face every day will be much, much harder to solve.

Thank you.