In the lead-up to International Volunteer Day, Geoffrey D. Prewitt, Chief of the Development Programme Section of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, talks about UNV and the importance of volunteering on N1, a television channel in Bosnia and Herzegovina, alongside Amela Sirovina, from the Centre for development of youth activism in the country. (Article in the language(s) of Bosnia and Herzegovina)

On Thursday July 2nd, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme Executive Coordinator, Richard Dictus, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) President, Youngmok Kim, signed the new Agreement on the United Nations University Youth Volunteer Programme, which further strengthens the collaboration between the two organizations.

"The new State of World's Volunteerism Report: Transforming Governance was designed to create a conversation," said Richard Dictus, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme which published the document. "I look forward to an inspiring dialogue on the impact of volunteerism and governance," said UNV's chief at the launch of this report at UN Headquarters on 5 June 2015.

Member States of the Open Working Group on the Post-2015 agenda agreed, "There should be [a sustainable development goal] on peaceful and inclusive societies, with the aim of building effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels,"  recalled Helen Clark, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme at the launch of the State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2015. "Volunteers can help engage people from all walks of life in making progress towards that goal a reality," she concluded.

Volunteers are playing a vital role in making governments worldwide more accountable and responsive to their citizens, but their potential is seriously under-valued, a new report from the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme said today. The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2015 is the first global survey of the contribution of volunteers to better governance, a prerequisite for the success of the new Sustainable Development Goals to be agreed at the United Nations in September.

On 25 April, a massive 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal. This natural disaster, the worst in 80 years for the country, has not only taken lives but caused life-threatening living situations for hundreds of thousands of people in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. UNV has established a Nepal Earthquake Taskforce to coordinate the most effective and needed support on the ground. Its first priority was to secure the wellbeing of UN Volunteers in Nepal.

The UNV Communications’ mission is to enhance communication about the value of volunteerism in peace and development and the importance on the contributions that UNV and UN Volunteers make to the impact on the results of the United Nations. The purpose of this new Communications Strategy is to guide communications on volunteerism for peace and development and safe-guard the organizational reputation of UNV programme; while adding value in the achievement of the main outcomes and results area of the UNV Strategic Framework 2014-2017.

The IVD theme in 2014 theme underlines the ability of volunteerism to help create open spaces for dialogue and inclusion, ultimately fostering the participation of people from all age groups, genders, and backgrounds in decision-making processes. This grassroots engagement is currently helping to build a more inclusive process of crafting the post-2015 development agenda – the world's next plan for eradicating extreme poverty and achieving sustainable development.

The International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR), celebrated every year on 13 October, encourages every citizen and government to take part in building more disaster resilient communities and nations. It is a day to celebrate how people and communities are reducing their risk to disasters and raising awareness about the importance of DRR.

"The UNV Partnerships Forum has lived up to its theme—Innovation for Volunteer Action," said UNV's Executive Coordinator Richard Dictus as he closed the event held in Bonn, Germany on 30 September and 1 October 2014.  Attracting more than 100 people from around the world, participants discussed the theme, within a stone's throw of UNV headquarters, in the historic Wasserwerk (meaning "waterworks") building which housed the German Parliament from 1986 to 1992..