Volunteering can shape lives in powerful ways—but its impacts are neither simple nor one‑sided. While it often builds confidence, resilience, and skills, it may also leave some behind through uneven access. Beyond individual experiences, volunteering influences broader development outcomes, from economic participation to health and education. As volunteering evolves, so must the ways we understand and measure its value. The 2026 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR) calls for more diverse and nuanced approaches to measuring volunteering—approaches that better capture its contributions to individual and community well‑being, empowerment and social cohesion.
The SWVR Global Webinar Series forms part of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) wider dissemination and engagement efforts. The series will unpack the report’s key findings, explore its analytical frameworks and tools, and support regional and country‑level rollout through established UN and partner processes.
Through this webinar series, UNV is creating a platform to translate research into actionable insights and practical tools. These global conversations bring together academia, practitioners and decision-makers to explore how measurement can better capture volunteerism’s impact on communities and individuals. Ultimately, this positions measurement not as an end, but as a catalyst for more inclusive policies, stronger recognition, and greater investment in volunteerism.” Dr. Tapiwa Kamuruko, Chief of Volunteer Advisory Services at UNV.
The second webinar in this series brings together researchers and practitioners for a roundtable discussion on multi-method approaches to capturing the impact of volunteering on health, well-being, skills, employability, and development outcomes.
The session will draw on Chapters 4 and 5 of the Report and lessons from global case studies to show why adaptive, context‑sensitive and inclusive approaches are critical to building stronger data—and how such data can help organizations and governments create fairer volunteer pathways.
The conversation: Measuring the value of volunteering to individuals and communities is scheduled for 16 April 2026.
Every three years, UNV produces the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, a flagship UN publication designed to strengthen understanding on volunteerism and demonstrate its universality, scope and reach in the twenty-first century.