04 September 2001
From its beginnings in the 1970s the UNV programme has served the special needs of small island developing states. Volunteers favour working with those in society who have extra difficulties to contend with. Thus UN Volunteer specialists have a ready empathy for countries which - over and above the hardships which face all developing nations - must overcome obstacles such as physical isolation, small scale economic and human resource base, monocrop agriculture and emigration.
Set up by the UN General Assembly in 1970, UNV is administered as part of the UN Development Programme. It serves as an operational partner in developmental, humanitarian and peace-building projects at the request of any UN member state or UN System Agency. With some 2,000 specialists in posts, it is one of the leading and most cost-effective suppliers of middle and upper-middle personnel for such work.
UNV specialists comprise 120 nationalities. They have relevant academic qualifications (often postgraduate), or proven track record in community-based action. All have working experience - usually some ten years. Their average age is 39. They serve in 125 developing countries.
In earlier years, small islands mainly sought technical assistance from UNV for strategic inputs to agriculture, health, education and the economy. For the future, since sustainable development does not "trickle down" but can only grow upward from the efforts of individuals and groups, UNV intends to give greater emphasis to enabling local communities to carry through the initiatives which they themselves decide will meet their most pressing needs.
UNV work in the areas of concern to the Global Conference:
Climate change: High among priorities of the Maldives, threatened by global warming, has been to formulate an environmental policy and control coastal erosion. UNV specialists in terrestrial ecology, coastal geo-morphology and environmental information systems have helped.
Human resource development: Health has been the focus for scores of UNV professionals in the Comoro Islands, Fiji, Jamaica and Western Samoa. More than 50 country-specific Mother and Child Health schemes have been formulated in the Pacific with input from UNVs. They have also joined in designing "barefoot-type" medical training for students from Fiji, Kiribati, Micronesia, Tonga and Tuvalu.
Natural disasters: When Hurricane Hugo struck Montserrat, UNVs turned rapidly from a low-cost housing project to help the island's students repair and rebuild 1,000 homes. For disaster preparedness, UNVs have advised on early warning systems in the South Pacific and on storm-resistant housing in the Cook Islands.
Waste management: In Jamaica a UNV environmental engineer developed a bacteriological laboratory to analyse drinking and waste water, industrial discharge and sewage. Guidance on building Ventilated Improved Pit latrines is an aspect of sanitation covered by the portable education kit devised by a UNV for mobile village health care workers in Vanuatu.
Coastal and marine resources: UNVs have advised on fisheries in the Cook Islands and Micronesia and fish processing in the Solomon Islands, modified canoe designs in Kiribati, taught carpentry and boat-building in Tonga, and given training in outboard motor maintenance in Vanuatu.
Freshwater resources: With support from UNICEF, cement water storage tanks were designed and built with UNVs' help in Tonga and other Pacific countries. They are fostering community participation in a new 16-country regional project for viable water and sanitation strategies.
Land use: The erosion of Fiji's Rewa River's banks and flooding of farming land have been researched by UNV hydrologists. A Master Plan has been drawn up to prevent such million-dollar losses with the island's other rivers and to train Fijian staff in all aspects of this work.
The arrival of a UNV forester in a WFP-assisted project in Haiti led to new tree nurseries in the Pilate and Plaisance Region, reopening of an agricultural school to train farmers in tree-planting, and to a co-operative to farm less eroded parts of the degraded land.
Under a UN Human Settlements Centre project, eight UNV physical planners are preparing development plans, multi-spatial databases and geographic information systems in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St. Lucia and St. Vincent.
Energy: Vanuatu's Energy Unit has the services of a UNV engineer to review electricity tariffs and petroleum storage and develop a rural electrification policy. Energy audits and conservation were the tasks of a UNV in the Solomon Islands. In Kiribati, one UNV helped build a photovoltaic facility for testing components and training technicians, and another managed pilot salt production in lagoons used for solar flats.
Tourism development: A UNV instructor upgraded "Hotel Trades" training with linked practical internships in Anguilla. Student numbers doubled and almost all graduates found employment. Students suited to management positions are sponsored by local hotels and restaurants. Advisors from UNV's UNISTAR (UN International Short-term Advisory Resources) scheme for support of private and public sector enterprise developed a special training strategy for six hotels in the Maldives, which went on to increase their tourist business.
Biodiversity: A UNV tissue culturist in Western Samoa has multiplied eight Pacific varieties of banana and researched in vitro multiplication of the cash-crops kava, ginger, vanilla, passion fruit and pineapple. She has trained local staff in these techniques.
Transport and communication: UNV civil engineers and surveyors have supervised labour-based road construction in the Solomon Islands. Eight specialists in various aspects of telecommunications played a major part in an International Telecommunications Union-assisted project in Western Samoa.
Other UNV-assisted initiatives of interest
Government agriculture staff and growers in the Cook Islands were trained by a UNV entomologist to control fruit fly infestation in pawpaw, mango and avocado, and protein bait spraying has been introduced. Resumed export earnings with the lifting of a ban on export of the islands' fruit are the expected result.
With support from the World Meteorological Organization, a UNV agro-meteorologist in Sao Tome and Principe organized data collection from the National Institute of Meteorology's weather stations, and upgraded a climatology and hydrology library relevant to the island's cocoa growing and cattle pasturing.
The self-help efforts of women and young people in clean water, drainage, refuse disposal and sanitation are the target of a UNV pilot initiative with the South Pacific Action Committee for Human Ecology and the Environment. It seeks to improve local NGOs' ability to involve public participation in their schemes and be sensitive to the urban environment.
Seven Pacific countries including Kiribati and Tokelau have been host to UNVs in a programme for Integrated Atoll Development. As "change agents" the UNVs have identified project opportunities, liaised with local leaders, communities and government agencies and provided training in everything from household composting to solar-powered water pumps.
In Grenada, the job of a UNV with experience in investment was to build up the capacity of the Small Enterprise Development Unit of the island's Development Bank, matching promising entrepreneurs to manufacturing needs of the island.
A UNV lexicographer is helping compile four dictionaries for the Government and people of Niue.
