Volunteerism and statistical production in the global South

Isabel Schmidt, Director, Statistics South Africa
print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

In this blog, Isabel Schmidt, Executive Director of Statistics South Africa talks about the importance, as well as the challenges, of measuring the contribution of volunteerism in South Africa.

Tshepiso steps back and admires his handiwork. As part of his contribution to Mandela Day, he has painted the interior walls of a corrugated iron shack that serves as a crèche for young children in an informal settlement in Johannesburg. In the spirit of ubuntu, he regularly ferries his elderly parents, aunts and uncles to hospital or assists them with shopping. Just last weekend he repaired a broken kitchen cabinet door for his neighbour, Mrs Potts.

UNDP Executive Board Decision (2018/8) - See page 5

print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print
Back

The Executive Board, Welcomes the organizational transformation of UNV in 2017-2018 and the decentralization of capacities and delegation of authority from headquarters to the regional and country levels, enabling UNV to be better ‘fit for purpose’ for its new Strategic Framework; Recalling decision 2017/31, paragraph 8, notes the importance of regular resources provided by UNDP to deliver on its Strategic Framework; Reaffirms the crucial role of the Special Voluntary Fund to the delivery of the UNV Strategic Framework, 2018-2021, calling upon all develop

2018 State of the World's Volunteerism Report The thread that binds - volunteerism and community resilience

State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds
print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print
Back

The report explores how governments and development actors can best engage with volunteerism to nurture its most beneficial characteristics, while mitigating against potential harms to the most vulnerable. In doing so, the report provides an important contribution to the evidence base on inclusive, citizen-led approaches to resilience-building. The report is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.

Download the different language versions

Request United Nations Volunteers

print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

United Nations entities

United Nations entities can tap into the full range of categories of UN Volunteers. Partners can refer to the UN Partner Toolkit for information on the process to recruit UN Volunteers and engage Online Volunteers.

The scale and scope of volunteering globally

State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds
print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

Volunteering is increasingly recognized as a significant resource for overcoming development challenges. Empirical data can document the contributions of volunteers, set benchmarks for evaluation, uncover important trends, and encourage policies that help promote volunteering. Today, UNV publishes a background paper as part of the 2018 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report project, that assesses the state of measurement of volunteering, and provides new estimations of the scale and scope of volunteering globally.

Volunteering is difficult to define and measure in a way that is comparable across borders or cultures. When volunteering has been measured, the focus has largely been on organization-based volunteering, rather than volunteering performed spontaneously and directly between people. Many stakeholders fail to recognize the importance of measuring volunteering, especially irregular volunteering, mainly due to the cost and the diffi­culties of getting a representative sample.

The thread that binds - a global conversation on volunteerism and community resilience

print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

The thread that binds - a global conversation on volunteerism and community resilience

print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

Local volunteering is the thread that binds communities and makes them strong

New York, United States of America
print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds draws on original research across five continents to understand how communities view volunteering. The report aims to help governments and development partners maximize the contribution of volunteerism as a property of resilient communities.

Focus groups and policy discussions for the report were organized in Bolivia, Burundi, China, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Madagascar, Malawi, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tanzania.

Local volunteering is the thread that binds communities and makes them strong

State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds
print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds draws on original research across five continents to understand how communities view volunteering. The report aims to help governments and development partners maximize the contribution of volunteerism as a property of resilient communities.

Focus groups and policy discussions for the report were organized in Bolivia, Burundi, China, Egypt, Greece, Guatemala, Madagascar, Malawi, Myanmar, the Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Tanzania.

The state of volunteering infrastructure globally

State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds
print pdf
Low quality, print optimized High quality, color print

Volunteering plays a key role in addressing major global challenges, such as urbanization, environmental degradation, increased migration, and demographic changes. Yet in a world of competing political priorities, ‘ volunteering infrastructure’ – the support provided to maximize the potential of volunteering - rarely receives the attention it needs. Today, UNV publishes a background paper as part of the 2018 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report project, that looks at global trends in volunteering infrastructure and makes the case for prioritizing a functional, appropriate and inclusive volunteering infrastructure that enables citizens to become agents of change and drivers of their own development.

In conditions where policies and legislation successfully create a nurturing and enabling environment for volunteering, people are endowed with stronger protections and incentives to engage in voluntary action. When carefully designed and implemented, volunteer schemes can empower people to participate in their own communities to meet development objectives. 

Subscribe to