05 December 2003

Taking our first steps into the 21st century, we – the global community – have set our sights on a more prosperous, healthy and educated world by striving to achieve a set of time-bound objectives called the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Many volunteers have joined this massive effort, and indeed, it would be difficult to accomplish without them.

The MDGs include targets to halve extreme poverty and hunger; make primary education available to all; ensure gender equality; reduce child and maternal mortality around the world; stop and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis; strive for environmental sustainability; and work for global cooperation in terms of aid, trade and debt relief. The MDGs are ambitious, but with voluntary action taken on a global scale, they are also achievable. International Volunteer Day provides an opportunity to strategically support such action.

Today, committed volunteers throughout the world are working together with leaders of civil society to promote the action needed to meet the MDGs. By actively sharing diverse skills in support of the MDGs, they also gain valuable skills and experience in return. Volunteers train doctors, home-based care volunteers and birth attendants. They empower women decision-makers through training and networking and assist teenage mothers in furthering their education and learning skills to help them in the job market. And they even replant forests. Wherever you look across the MDG spectrum, you will find engaged volunteers.

Achieving the MDGs will take sustained political will, social mobilization and a great number of individuals who are ready to take a stand and act for the world’s poorest people. A true advocate of the immense contribution that volunteerism can play in meeting the challenges of the MDGs was the late Sharon Capeling-Alakija, the Executive Coordinator for United Nations Volunteers (UNV), who sadly passed away recently. In keeping with the spirit of celebration on this Day, we honour this extraordinary visionary and leader. Sharon recognized the unique opportunity that the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) 2001 could play in impacting the global volunteer movement and helping meet key development challenges. The tremendous success of the Year is one of Sharon’s greatest legacies. It is only fitting that we continue to build on the momentum she helped create, and continue to recognize and encourage volunteer involvement in the achievement of the MDGs.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) salutes you, the volunteer, on this International Volunteer Day for what you continue to do for development and achieving the MDGs. Your actions are transforming countless lives and communities around the world and helping to build a better world today and an enduring legacy for tomorrow.