During the visit, discussions focused on the continued development of Bonn as a United Nations duty station and the strong partnership between Germany and the United Nations system. Particular attention was given to the role of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme as the Common Service Provider for the UN Campus in Bonn.Supported by the Federal Government, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the City of Bonn, the city has developed into a reliable hub for international cooperation, reflecting Germany’s commitment to multilateralism.

Our age has no shortage of upheaval. Displacement today is not episodic; it is widespread. Conflicts endure, climates shift, and fragile systems strain under repeated shocks. In such a world, sympathy alone is insufficient. It must be organized, sustained, and given direction. Solidarity must become service.

The meeting, which included COP31 Climate High-Level Champion Samed Ağırbaş and Louise Chamberlain, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator, focused on the priorities of both organizations and on ways to align efforts around the International Volunteer Year 2026.

Years later, she did something few people do. She returned—not to her own safety, but to instability. This time, not as someone needing help, but as someone ready to carry weight.

The contribution of traditional partners to UNV is not symbolic. It is practical and strategic. 

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2026 the International Volunteer Year—setting the stage for a global celebration of volunteers.

Why Evidence matters for VolunteerismOpening the session, Emiliya Asadova, UNV Team Lead for Evidence, stressed the need for stronger and more inclusive data on volunteerism. Without solid evidence, the work of volunteers risks remaining invisible in national policies and development planning—valued in practice, but absent on paper.

I saw this gap up close, when I attended this year's Humanitarian Network and Partnerships Week in March 2026 in Geneva, a global forum for all humanitarian actors, including volunteer-involving organizations. Across discussions, one message came through clearly: business as usual will not work. This year, the focus was on humanitarian reset and what it means for the people affected by the humanitarian crisis. 

Over the past few years, Kazakhstan has made a deliberate effort to elevate volunteerism—from declaring 2020 the Year of Volunteers, to championing 2024 as the Year of the Volunteer Movement in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and creating momentum toward 2026 as the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development.

В последние годы в стране и, шире, в Центральной Азии волонтерство получило целенаправленное развитие. Сначала был Год волонтеров в Казахстане в 2020-м, затем – Год волонтерского движения в СНГ в 2024-м. Сейчас, во многом благодаря инициативе Казахстана, нарастает импульс 2026 года как Международного года добровольцев под эгидой Организации Объединенных Наций.