The scale and scope of volunteering globally

State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2018: The Thread that Binds
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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

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

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

New York, United States of America
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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
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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
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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. 

Volunteering: a tool for social integration in cities

Matthew Ryder, Deputy Mayor of London
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Together with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, my role is to bring together all Londoners and strengthen our communities. One of the most important lessons I have learned is the power of volunteering in achieving those goals.

Earlier this year, we launched our social integration strategy. Based on considerable research, it sets out a new definition of social integration – emphasizing that it is about more than simply the degree of contact between people but also includes promoting equality and improving people’s levels of activity and participation in their local communities.

But encouraging social integration is a meaningless exercise unless people are provided with opportunities to come together. Volunteering does just that.

UNDP EB Report (DP/2018/14)

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This report presents the results achieved by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme during the second biennium of its four-year Strategic Framework, 2014-2017. Noting the accomplishments of the programme, the report also reflects on the challenges faced, the results of an independent evaluation of the Strategic Framework , and a full management audit of UNV.

National Situation Analysis

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United Nations estimates the number of volunteers worldwide at 1 billion people

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This article highlights Mr. Toily Kurbanov’s remarks made during his presentation at SPIEF 2018, focusing on the latest statistics on volunteerism worldwide and achievements of Russia in the development of volunteerism.  The article also announces the upcoming call for applications to join UNV for Russian citizens.
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