The United Nations Volunteers ( UNV) programme for the Arab regional office and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in the Middle East and North Africa regional office are organizing the second regional consultation on reimagining volunteering in the Arab States. The consultation will take place on the 27th October 2019 in Amman, Jorden.
The event will take stock of progress and ways to strengthen volunteering in the development context. Participants will explore the new factors, best practices, lessons learnt that are important to reimaging volunteering for the 2030 Agenda.
According to recent estimates in the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018, there were over 8.9 million full time equivalent volunteers in the Arab States region (18 countries reporting) in 2018. 17.1% are formal volunteers, within organized volunteer structures, while the vast majority (82.9%) are volunteering informally.
The nature of volunteering among the Arab States has changed significantly in the last decade. Therefore, the consultation will bring different actors in region together to exchange on volunteering and highlight concrete steps to be taken to help ensure volunteering reaches its full potential.
The event will start with opening remarks from: H.E. Dr Fares Al Braizat, Minister of Youth, Jordan, Mr. Jason Pronyk, Regional Manager, UNV, Arab States, H.E. Dr Mohammed Al-Hadid, President, Jordan Red Crescent, Mr. Anders Pedersen, UN Resident Coordinator, and Ms. Hayfa Sdiri, UN Volunteer (elected by the BBC as one of the top 100 women influencers globally).
The outcomes of this event will feed into the continental and global synthesis report for the global technical meeting on ‘Reimagining Volunteerism’ that will take place in July 2020 at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development at the UN in New York.