20 June 2006

I am pleased to present to you the Board my first report on the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. I first shared my impressions about UNV with you in January. At that time, I drew your attention to the unique and important role UNV plays in UNDP, as well as through UNDP to the wider UN system, in both promoting the concept of volunteerism for development and in mobilizing volunteers. Encouraging voluntary action for development goes to the heart of the long-term process of building capacity in people and institutions, and it’s clear that UNV plays a distinctive role within the UN system in this respect.

As the High-Level Panel on System-wide Coherence makes it deliberations, it’s clear that greater system-wide coherence in response to country level demands should also go together with maintaining the diversity and pluralism of the UN system where it is relevant and where it adds value. The UNV programme, as it has evolved more recently, is, I believe, an example of such pluralism and diversity, given that it draws maximum strength from a close programmatic and operational alignment with UNDP, including as it relates to UNDP’s role in supporting the Resident Coordinator and the UN system at large.

The UNV programme gives UNDP, and the wider UN system, the potential to enlarge our capacity to be catalysts for development, especially at the grassroots where the impact of our work will ultimately be assessed. From that perspective, I believe that in UNV we have a good best-practice model which I hope we all would want to further capitalize on.

UNV as a force for change

As I made clear in my message celebrating the International Day for Volunteering in 2005, if we are to accelerate progress toward achieving the MDGs and stay true to the promise the world made to build a better, fairer world for all, we must now urgently put in place the necessary policies and resources to achieve these goals. As demonstrated around the world, volunteers have a unique and important role to play as active participants in the development process. Indeed, volunteers, volunteer involving organizations, as well as volunteer networks are important resources that need to be properly recognized as legitimate development partners. For UNDP, harnessing the energies and creativity of millions of people worldwide who want to make a distinctive contribution through volunteerism to development and peace will be critical in the years ahead as we approach the 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs.

The UNV biennial report

These points have been well captured by the report that is currently in front of you which Ad de Raad, Executive Director of UNV, will this morning present to you.

The 2004-2005 biennium has obviously been a period of significant growth in terms of numbers, financial value, diversification, and global advocacy. On this, I would just like to refer to the results framework developed by UNV which highlights the results of its efforts to promote and channel citizen voluntary action through the prism of what is called “V4D” (Volunteerism for Development) into areas that make a distinctive contribution. Reporting through the MYFF windows underlines the solid relationship that UNV has with UNDP and helps to ensure that its efforts are aligned with the broader peace and development agenda. Refinements to the MYFF will, therefore, also be part and parcel of UNV’s own results framework.

Before handing over to Ad de Raad, let me finish my remarks by referring to a very recent result of UNV’s work which has received special recognition. The report in front of you introduces UNV’s business model of which Advocacy for Volunteerism for Development is an important component. UNV’s management of the World Volunteer Web is an excellent example and integral part of such advocacy work. The World Bank recognized this last week by giving its Web4Dev award to UNV and the World Volunteer Web in the category “Humanitarian and Development Activism”. Another example of one of the great distinctive contributions UNV makes across the two pillars of promoting volunteerism for development and mobilizing volunteers.

With this brief introduction, let me now hand over to Ad de Raad.

Thank you.