Every month, 2.1 billion working-age people volunteer their time and skills—fuelling real change in communities worldwide. Yet, outdated measurement methods have long overlooked much of this contribution, leaving volunteerism undervalued in policy and investment decisions.
The 2026 SWVR: Redefining the true value of Volunteerism
Three decades on: A new chapter for UN Bonn with UN Women
On 21 November 2025, at the United Nations campus in Bonn, Germany, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Executive Coordinator, Toily Kurbanov, delivered remarks at the inauguration of UN Women’s Bonn Global Office, extending a warm welcome to the UN Women team.
Just this week, I came across a 1995 UN briefing prepared for Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali ahead of his meeting with Chancellor Helmut Kohl.
It proposed three talking points:
1. Thank Germany for its generous air support to UN peacekeeping missions, with C-160 aircraft and CH-53G helicopters.