International Volunteer Day (IVD) 2010 was celebrated all over India with a variety of interesting, informative and impressive activities. National essay and slogan writing competition A national essay and slogan writing competition was organized to spread greater awareness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and inspire and involve more people to join the movement towards achieving the MDGs by 2015.

Edwin Cuenco, a Filipino graphic artist and professor and Edith Marie Garingalao, a medical technologist were among the winners of the UNV Online Volunteering Award 2010 for their outstanding contributions to peace and development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Voluntary action is a real, important and measurable contribution to the moulding of society and it contributes to the strengthening of links that make a society harmonious. However, the quantity of what is being volunteered is grossly underestimated and many forms of volunteering are not acknowledged or recognised.

If you have a computer, an Internet connection and skills, you can volunteer in any one of 130 countries around the world without leaving home.

Mr. De Raad started his UN career as a Junior Professional Officer (JPO) and steadily grew through the ranks in progressively responsible leadership positions. His career included field postings in Bangladesh and Tanzania with United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and UNDP.

How does the recruitment of UN Volunteers add value to UNDP?As an efficient, speedy and diverse talent solution for UN partners, UN Volunteers serve with UN entities to bring people to the forefront of development, peace and humanitarian issues. UNV manages a pool of over 350,000 talented and qualified UN Volunteers who can be deployed to bolster the delivery of UNDP’s programmes and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.