Some of the most important contributions people make to society, especially volunteering and other community‑sustaining actions, remain largely invisible in our statistics and data systems. Since I have been working with data, I have noticed a persistent paradox: society's most important contributions remain the least visible in our statistics. This insight has markedly influenced my thinking as a statistician and researcher, especially in how we gauge social progress and development.
Across communities in the Global South and worldwide, people dedicate their time, skills, and energy to help others—often without expecting recognition or reward. Consider the community-based groups in Kenya that support research and conservation initiatives for animals and wildlife, the volunteer firefighters in Australia who battle devastating bushfires, or the youth groups across Latin America organizing neighbourhood clean-ups and immunization campaigns.
These common acts of service — diverse in form yet integrated in purpose—form the backbone of societal resilience, yet they rarely appear in official statistics. In other words, volunteers respond to crises, sustain public services, bolster social bonds, and build community endurance in both practical and meaningful ways. Yet despite its scale and significance, volunteerism remains under-researched and often absent from official statistical systems.
This gap between personal experience gained and statistical visibility has greatly influenced my engagement with the Global Index of Volunteer Engagement (GIVE).
GIVE is an innovative framework developed by the University of Pretoria and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) to assess the impact of volunteering across multiple dimensions. Therefore, the GIVE goes beyond volunteer headcounts alone; it reflects the complex and diverse nature of volunteering.
As Principal Investigator of GIVE, I have been privileged to collaborate with international partners, national statistical systems, development experts, and volunteer practitioners—from grassroots communities to policy and programme levels—to address a major challenge: how do we shift volunteerism from being acknowledged anecdotally to being systematically measured, quantified, and recognized?
A doubting and sceptical mind would, understandably, think that this work is simply an academic exercise and technical, for that matter. It is not. Although it is based on methodical rigour, it is vital. It entails careful reflection on definitions, indicators, data sources, and comparability across multiple contexts.
Volunteerism frequently manifests informally, crosses institutional boundaries, and varies culturally. Developing a framework that captures this complexity yet stays statistically sound has been both intellectually challenging and highly rewarding.
The development of GIVE has been driven by collaboration, as with other well-known and established global indices, partnerships with international organizations such as the UNDP and other global stakeholders will ensure that the framework remains policy-relevant and practically feasible. Engagement with countries collecting volunteer data has also provided vital insights into what can be achieved within national statistical systems and where capacity-building is needed.
Measurement defines visibility, and visibility influences value—and when volunteer contributions are systematically measured, they become part of national and global conversations about development priorities, funding distribution, and policy design.
The 2026 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR), which explicitly focuses on volunteerism and its measurement, signifies a milestone in this wider effort. By emphasising measurement at the core of the discussion, the report reinforces the argument that volunteering metrics should be incorporated into official statistics and sustainable development monitoring.
Strengthening measurement is not simply a technical task—it is concerning recognition, accountability, and improved policymaking. Apart from recognition, improved measurement of volunteerism has practical effects on resources and policies. When volunteering metrics are included in official statistics, they guide investment decisions, improve accountability, and pinpoint where support is most needed. By making volunteer efforts visible in data systems, we enable governments, development partners, and communities to better harmonise policies with social realities.
The timing of this measurement effort is no accident. As the world accelerates efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, the post-COVID-19 recovery has highlighted the key role of volunteerism in health systems, education, and social protection. Advances in data-collection technologies and the rising recognition of informal economies have finally created a unique opportunity to make volunteer contributions visible.
When volunteer contributions are systematically measured and incorporated into official statistical systems, they ensure that the time, skills, and energy of millions of people are reflected in evidence-based planning and development decisions.
Working on GIVE has reinforced a key lesson: measurement influences visibility, and visibility influences value. When volunteer contributions are systematically measured, they become part of national discussions about development priorities and resource distribution. When they remain unmeasured, they risk being ignored—even though they support communities daily.
Therefore, when ministries of health can quantify the contribution of community health volunteers, they can distribute resources more effectively. When education departments understand the scale of volunteer tutoring and after-school support, they can design better complementary programmes. When disaster management agencies have data on spontaneous volunteer responses, they can improve coordination and protection for those who step forward in crises.
These advances in measurement are already gaining momentum—and nowhere is this more evident than in the United Nations Volunteers’ (UNV) flagship publication, the SWVR.
GIVE is not simply a measurement tool; it represents an invitation. An invitation to statisticians to innovate in data collection, to policy makers to demand better evidence, and to volunteer organisations to advocate for recognition. I urge readers to investigate how volunteer data is collected in their own contexts and to join the global conversation on making all contributions count.
The paradox we began with—that society's most vital contributions remain statistically invisible—need not persist. Improving the measurement of volunteerism makes certain that development data accurately reflect the full range of contributions that support individuals and communities around the world.
GIVE constitutes a step towards integrating volunteer metrics into official statistical systems, making them comparable, credible, and policy-relevant across multiple contexts. As efforts advance through global partnerships, drawing on insights from the SWVR, we draw closer to a future in which volunteerism is not simply celebrated but also systematically measured and effectively incorporated into sustainable development strategies and national statistics systems.
Volunteerism should not only be celebrated in stories but counted in statistics. When volunteerism is measured, it is valued. And when it is valued, it is supported. That is the future we are working to create.
Improving the measurement of volunteerism guarantees that volunteers are not only recognized for their contributions, but systematically recorded, acknowledged, and incorporated into sustainable development data systems.
Professor Samuel Manda is a globally recognized statistician and academic at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His work centers on statistical methods and data systems, advancing global public health and social development through translational, evidence-based insights.