These 30 young people, whose assignments are funded by the Governments of the Czech Republic, France and Switzerland are a part of the UN Youth Volunteer programme. These assignments are an opportunity for young professionals to work with UN agencies on the frontlines of peace, developmental and humanitarian operations.

These 30 young people, whose assignments are funded by the Governments of the Czech Republic, France and Switzerland are a part of the UN Youth Volunteer programme. These assignments are an opportunity for young professionals to work with UN agencies on the frontlines of peace, developmental and humanitarian operations.

For two years, Irene has been working to strengthen and consolidate peace within Malian civil society. Her position involves working with Malian communities, particularly their young people, to help young people develop skills as peacemakers and promotors of tolerance, intercultural dialogue and non-violence. As part of her role as a young volunteer, Irene accompanies the Malian government as they cooperate with various ministries to implement national programs and policies aimed at youth development and peacebuilding.

As a UN Volunteer Specialist on Economic Development at UNDP Tajikistan’s Aid for Trade project, I liaise with our clients and partner organizations, monitoring the range of actions and results achieved by the project. UNDP’s Aid for Trade project supports human development through the creation of jobs and by enhancing the export capacity of small and medium sized businesses.

CNBC Africa in Nairobi interviews UNV EC Richard Dictus on the SWVR 2015 before its regional launch in Kenya

The Stewardship Report, a US news aggregator that describes itself as "connecting goodness", picked up the unv.org web story launching the State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2015.

"Volunteers are playing a vital role in making governments more accountable," Amanda Mukwashi, chief of the UNV's Volunteer Knowledge and Innovations Section told Forbes magazine in an interview. The VKIS Chief, who led the project team which authored the State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2015 supported by UNV, was interviewed during the launch of the SWVR at UN Headquarters in New York.

TakePart, a US digital news and lifestyle magazine that claims to be "a social action platform for the conscious consumer" linked the findings of the newly launched State of World's Volunteerism Report 2015 to stories about ordinary people around the world who are "standing up for social justice".

The Sunday Times Sri Lanka announced that nominations were open for the National Volunteer Awards (V awards) 2013 at a media briefing held in Colombo on Tuesday, September 3. The news outlet said that through the V Awards, organized by News First in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers and the Ministry of Social Services, "the nation salutes the silent work of hitherto unknown volunteers for their selfless contributions."

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and volunteer involving organizations know that volunteerism contributes to peace and development around the world, but how do we demonstrate this?  A new handbook, Assessing the Contribution of Volunteering to Development is designed to help development practitioners get the evidence they need. The handbook’s fundamental principle is that assessing the contribution of volunteers requires a bottom-up approach.