COP 23 training motivates, inspires and informs more than 600 volunteers

When crisis strikes, volunteers are there first – International Volunteer Day 2017

The number of people affected by humanitarian crisis and natural disaster is growing by the day. An unprecedented 65 million people are forcibly displaced, either internally in their own countries or seeking shelter across borders. Among them, ten million refugees are under the age of 18.

These events have multiplied over the last ten years, just when the planet has reached its all-time temperature records, blurring the difference between human-made and purely natural catastrophes.

UNV participates in IVCO 2017 to support implementation of the SDGs through transformative partnerships for volunteerism

UNV Executive Coordinator Mr. Olivier Adam spoke today at the IVCO Conference in Seoul in a panel discussion on global advocacy to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 17 on revitalizing global partnerships for sustainable development. The need to establish an enabling environment for volunteerism “to fully contribute to the realisation of any future sustainable development agenda” was the overarching theme of this year’s IVCO.

UNV participates in IVCO 2017 to support implementation of the SDGs through transformative partnerships for volunteerism

UNV Executive Coordinator Mr. Olivier Adam spoke today at the IVCO Conference in Seoul in a panel discussion on global advocacy to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 17 on revitalizing global partnerships for sustainable development. The need to establish an enabling environment for volunteerism “to fully contribute to the realisation of any future sustainable development agenda” was the overarching theme of this year’s IVCO.

I was one of the first UN Volunteers

In 1970, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) sought engineers to serve as volunteers in North Yemen to build drinking wells in the aftermath of the civil war. At that very moment, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme was not yet operational, but the wheels were already in motion. I applied, inspired by a book given to me one year earlier. By chance and circumstance, I had the incredible opportunity to serve as one of the first UN Volunteers.

I was working for the Irrigation Bureau of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Japan (currently the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) when I was invited to speak at a symposium hosted by the United States Consulate in Fukuoka. At the event, the Principal Officer gave me a book entitled The Good War: the U.N.'s World-Wide Fight Against Poverty, Disease and Ignorance. That chance encounter, in the summer of 1969, changed my life.

Launch of campaign for International Volunteer Day 2017: Volunteers Act First. Here. Everywhere.

Volunteers are the first to respond when crisis strikes, effectively responding to humanitarian emergencies everywhere. Often members of affected communities themselves, they help people to rebuild their lives in the immediate aftershock of a tragic event, and be better prepared to face uncertainty in the future.

Launch of campaign for International Volunteer Day 2017: Volunteers Act First. Here. Everywhere.

Volunteers are the first to respond when crisis strikes, effectively responding to humanitarian emergencies everywhere. Often members of affected communities themselves, they help people to rebuild their lives in the immediate aftershock of a tragic event, and be better prepared to face uncertainty in the future.

UNV and AIESEC launch the Young Person’s Guide to ‘Changing the World’ to help you achieve the SDGs

UNV and AIESEC launch the Young Person’s Guide to ‘Changing the World’ to help you achieve the SDGs

Leveraging employee skills for development impact

To answer the challenge set out by the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, start by leveraging your community investment and employee volunteer programme.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have an important focus on partnerships and have a vital function to achieve peace and development in the coming years. Partners in the private sector are certainly major stakeholders, and their involvement is now expanding much beyond charity. The private sector has a wealth of knowledge, expertise and implementation capacity that must be leveraged to find development solutions.