While there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people around the world, most remain largely excluded from mainstream decision-making processes. As a result, despite making up 5 per cent of the world’s population, 15 per cent of indigenous people suffer from extreme poverty.

The International Volunteer Day was celebrated in Mali and chaired by Prime Minister Mobido Keita who reiterated, in the presence of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme Deputy Executive Coordinator, Nicola Harrington, that the national authorities are committed to promote volunteerism.