13 October 2004

Baltimore/Bonn: Determining volunteerism’s contributions to a country’s economy is at the centre of a pilot project launched today by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the U.S.-based Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

The joint JHU/UNV Volunteer and Nonprofit Measurement Project, which was realized through a Memorandum of Understanding signed by UNV’s Executive Coordinator Ad de Raad and JHU officials, will be carried out in nine pilot countries–Brazil, India, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mali, Mozambique, the Philippines and South Africa– throughout the remainder of 2004 and 2005. The countries were selected on the basis of their geographical coverage, socio-economic status and reliable statistical information.

Over the next three years, a UN Volunteer statistician placed in each country’s statistics department will work with government officials and JHU experts to develop a separate national account capturing the total economic contribution of the country’s nonprofit sector, including the work of volunteers, to its gross domestic product (GDP).

“If we can document for governments the significant contribution of volunteers in economic terms, this will help increase the recognition of the value of volunteerism in development,” says Mr. de Raad. “Johns Hopkins University is a natural choice for partnership with UNV, as it was one of the first institutions to highlight the economic value of volunteerism in national accounts.”

The project stems from the recent approval by the United Nations Statistical Commission of a new Handbook on Nonprofit Institutions developed jointly by JHU’s Center for Civil Society Studies and the UN Statistics Division. This Handbook calls on government statistical agencies to capture the contribution that is made by civil society organizations and volunteers more systematically in regular national economic statistics.

“This new UN Handbook promises to revolutionize our understanding of the role of volunteers and civil society organizations around the world and provide a much more solid foundation for an enabling policy environment for them. We are delighted to be joining with UNV to make sure countries can adopt this Handbook and reap the benefits it promises,” says Lester Salamon, Director of JHU’s Center for Civil Society Studies.

The project’s first regional workshop will be held in Buenos Aires, Argentina at the end of September to familiarize Latin American statistical agencies and civil society leaders with the new Handbook, and to begin the process of promoting its implementation in this region. Subsequent workshops are being planned in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

In addition to UNV, major support for the project is coming from the Ford Foundation, the Skoll Foundation and Inter-American Development Bank.