To achieve this, new development patterns must be inclusive, resilient and advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By weaving a strong social fabric within communities, volunteering is at the key intersection of these qualities. When those with local knowledge and insights take collective ownership of local problems, communities are uniquely mobilized around development efforts.

Bolivia: Voluntariado en Acción (V.A. - Volunteers in Action) The platform Voluntariado en Acción, promoted by UNV in Bolivia, emerged in 2015 in response to copious inquiries from people regarding how they could get involved with the UN system. It mobilizes people of different ages, skills and education to achieve common goals.

Throughout the event, representatives from Member States, UN entities, civil society, including volunteer organizations, the private sector, academia and the world’s volunteers will come together to reimagine volunteering for the 2030 Agenda. More than 13,000 people have registered their attendance. To join and receive the links to the sessions, please register at volunteerSDGs.org.

Knowledge about volunteering and its practices, dynamics, benefits and challenges, is spread across many stakeholders across the globe. To improve the integration of volunteerism in the 2030 Agenda, policy makers and development practitioners need specific types of knowledge to improve policy and practice. The goal of the UNV Knowledge Portal is to consolidate and make volunteering data accessible to inform policy and advocacy. It matches those who collect data and those who make policy. The portal covers different areas of evidence across three sections:

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2020 is a year of urgency – and not just because of the coronavirus outbreak. Rising inequalities, long-lasting conflicts, complex emergencies, climate crisis, migration, displacement and the threat of ecosystem collapse currently affect the lives and livelihoods of billions of people. Locally led responses to these challenges are critical and volunteers are often at the helm of local efforts.

This paper is divided into three parts. The first explores attempts to capture and describe how volunteering has changed over the years. This section examines the dominant conceptualizations of volunteering as a social practice and explores how research has taken into account the contribution of volunteering to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. The second section briefly revisits the 1999 typology and discusses how it can be revised and updated in light of the changes described.

Online volunteers have been crucial to upscale the impact of Youth Co:Lab’s regional programmes. Coming from different countries and ethnicities, these online volunteers bring a variety of skills to the table. They have applied their skills and knowledge through a range of activities, including proofreading and translating communications materials, conducting research supporting COVID-19 related efforts.