Syrian refugee becomes a volunteer at Nea Kavala camp, Greece

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Saleh is a 37-year-old maintenance engineer who fled Syria more than a year ago. Like so many others living in camps across Greece, he brought critical skills and qualifications with him that he was eager to use – this is how he started volunteering to help the camp community.

Saleh started volunteering with the Red Cross’ water and sanitation team soon after arriving at Nea Kavala, helping to ensure people in the camp have access to clean water and safe facilities. But he played more than a technician’s role, and has been central in making sure that the Red Cross has a strong relationship with the community and listens to feedback, comments and concerns from people in the camp.

Disaster risk reduction through youth volunteerism

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Engaging with community members, 450 Youth Volunteers in Myanmar assess disaster risks, discussing the need for activities at the local level to raise awareness on Disaster Risk Reduction and increase their communities’ knowledge and skills on this subject.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in Myanmar, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), runs a Disaster Risk Reduction Youth Volunteer (DRRYV) project in support of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

SWVR Policy Challenge

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The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR) looks at the distinctive role of volunteerism in strengthening community resilience, and the enabling environment that can help maximise the contribution of volunteers around the world to risk reduction efforts.

As part of the report development process, qualitative field research was carried out in 15 communities globally to understand what communities saw as the distinctive contribution of volunteerism to resilience, and the environmental factors that influenced the impact of volunteer work.

Kenyan local volunteers join hands to address drought, deforestation and insecurity

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Local communities in Kenya get together to address the impact of natural disasters and to raise awareness about how to build resilience to catastrophes.

Local communities were mobilised with the support of Action for Sustainable Change Kenya (AFOSC Kenya) to conduct low-cost, feasible actions to build resilience to disasters, as part of the USAID/OFDA funded programme Frontline. Local coalitions composed of women and youth groups and community-based organisations were established to build a movement for change at the sub-county level.

Volunteers help rescue survivors from Harvey floodwaters

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Healthcare worker Jeremy Sparkman cut short his vacation in the Ozark Mountains. Horse wrangler Chris Pustejovksy collected money and supplies and led a convoy down from Fort Worth. Surgeon Rick Ngo paddled over from a nearby subdivision.

On Wednesday, they joined dozens of other volunteers who piloted bass boats, jet skis and aluminum dinghies through the caramel-colored floodwaters of west Houston to ferry hundreds of residents to safety, part of an impromptu flotilla that has played a prominent role in the recovery from the worst storm to hit Texas in more than 50 years.

“I usually just use this boat for drinking beer,” said Sparkman as he steered his flat-bottomed boat around submerged pickup trucks. “But we come together when we need to - that’s what Texans do.”

Bringing innovation to development

Manon Bernier
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A shared vision and collaborative action through volunteerism and private-public partnership

People around the world are facing an interconnected array of social, environmental and economic barriers to sustainable development. In this landscape, solutions for economic and human development require collaborative efforts by multiple sectors of society such as the private sector — a key player in the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). When knowledge, technical expertise and innovative practices are applied to community investment, aligning economic development with human development, everybody wins.

Volunteers deliver humanitarian aid in cities affected by earthquakes in Mexico

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Over 260 Red Cross volunteers and supporters participated in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Mexican cities affected by the earthquakes.

The volunteer response mechanisms were intensified to support regions affected by several earthquakes that shook Mexico in September 2017. Collection centers were set up and supported to coordinate the restoration of family links nationally.

During the month of September, 236 tons of humanitarian aid were received in collection centers located in 16 states of the country – aid that benefited more than 20,000 people.

Volunteers help people affected by wildfires in southern Europe

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Croatian Red Cross teams deployed 50 volunteers to assist those threatened by forest fires on the Adriatic coast. Volunteers supported the firefighting response by distributing food and water.

The forest fires started on the coastal area on Sunday 16 July 2017, and spread quickly due to strong winds and dry weather. In Croatia, several villages around Split in Dalmatia were threatened by the fire, and many houses were left without gas and electricity. One person was killed in the fire and more than 3,500 square meters of forest area were destroyed.

Flash floods affect Vietnamese villages: volunteers deliver humanitarian aid

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Relief supplies are distributed to families displaced by floods in northwestern provinces Yen Bai, Son La, Dien Bien and Lai Chau.

Authorities estimate that at least 228 houses collapsed or were swept away in this region, nearly 600 were damaged or unroofed and 657 billion Vietnam Dong or 28.9 million US dollars’ worth of crops, livestock and infrastructure were lost.

Within a day of the flash floods, Viet Nam Red Cross Society volunteers arrived in the affected provinces to assist families with supplies, financial and emotional support, and other help from the Viet Nam Red Cross Society headquarters.

In Sri Lanka volunteers mobilized to control spiraling dengue outbreak

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Volunteers mobilized to support government efforts to stem the country’s worst-ever outbreak of dengue virus disease and to provide medical assistance at overstretched hospitals.

Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health reported more than 87,600 suspected cases of the mosquito-borne infection in 2017, causing over 230 deaths. Dengue is endemic in Sri Lanka, but the number of infections this year was already about 38 per cent higher than 2016, when 55,150 people were diagnosed with dengue and 97 died. Experts say the virus is a particularly virulent strain that is new to Sri Lanka, and therefore immunity is low.

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