The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) marks with sadness the passing of Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, former Executive Coordinator of UNV, who died in her hometown of Needham, Massachusetts, on 11 March 2026 at the age of 82.
In Memoriam: Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney
誰も数えていない、世界最大の“労働力”
いかなる合理的基準から見ても、ボランティア活動は世界の安定を支える最大規模でありながら、最も理解されていない仕組みです。国連ボランティア計画（UNV）が最近発表した『世界ボランティア活動状況報告書』によると、年間を通じて約21億人、すなわち世界の労働年齢人口のおよそ3分の1が何らかの形でボランティア活動に参加していると推計されています。つまり、ボランティアは経済的余裕のある人々の余暇的な趣味ではなく、社会全体に広がる大規模な市民活動なのです。そこには、よく知られた国連やNGOのボランティアだけでなく、炊き出しを運営する地域住民、互助活動に取り組む若者、国の支援が届きにくい地域で非公式のセーフティネットを維持する女性たち、遠隔地のコミュニティと知識を共有するためオンラインで活動する企業ボランティアなども含まれます。
つまり、各国政府は、予算項目に記載されることのない“事実上の国家ボランティア隊”をすでに抱えていると言えます。市民は保健福祉、教育支援、災害対応、社会的ケアなどの公共財を、行政データには現れない形で共に生み出しています。近年多くの国の制度は、この市民の努力を見えない偶発的なものとして扱うのではなく、積極的に認識し連携しようとする方向へと変化しつつあります。2025年には23か国がボランティアが持続可能な開発目標（SDGs）に与える前向きな影響を、国連に提出した「2030アジェンダ」に関する自発的国家レビュー（VNR）の中で認めました。
しかし、その規模と重要性にもかかわらず、ボランティア活動に関する質の高い比較可能なデータは依然として不足しています。各国のデータは断続的であり、定義も大きく異なり、非公式なボランティア活動は体系的に過小評価されているのです。
What’s changing in the Conditions of Service—and Why?
The way people work has changed—and so has the way the United Nations mobilizes volunteer talent.
In 2024, an external evaluation of the UN Volunteer categories, grounded in extensive consultations with UN partners and UNV regional offices, brought into sharp focus the fact that the model was no longer fit for how the UN actually works. Two blind spots stood out. First, age limits made little sense in a world that increasingly values intergenerational teams. Second, current working arrangements failed to acknowledge the significant evolution that professional life has undergone since the onset of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
The response is not cosmetic. On 1 April 2026, UNV updates its offer with 39 redesigned volunteer solutions. The new offer is designed to address the complex, urgent, and varied challenges facing the world today. It provides UN entities with increased flexibility and creates more inclusive opportunities for UN Volunteers to get involved.
Who can volunteer—and how
At the heart of the Conditions of Service is a simple principle: experience matters most.
Beyond Fluff: What honest storytelling asks of us
A volunteer stands in a village with no clinic, holding a box of vaccines that may or may not arrive in time. In another place, someone stays in a community everyone else has fled, trying to build peace one conversation at a time. These moments rarely resolve neatly. They resist slogans. And they refuse to be comforting.
That is where honest storytelling begins: not with conclusions, but with what is often softened, skipped, or buried—failure alongside progress, complexity instead of closure. The most powerful stories do not reassure. They unsettle just enough to demand reflection and accountability.
The Quiet Enablers of Democracy
On 19 January 2026, the Central African Republic’s National Electoral Authority announced the official results of the presidential election held on 28 December 2025, conducted alongside legislative, regional, and municipal elections nationwide. For the first time since 1988, municipal elections were held across the country. This marked an important step forward, extending democratic participation beyond the national and local levels.
Across the Central African Republic, 34 UN Volunteers worked side by side with national counterparts to support elections in all 20 prefectures, including remote areas facing significant logistical challenges. The volunteers supported logistics, ran civic education efforts, and supported electoral operations, making sure ballots arrived, voters were informed, and polling could take place on time.