World Needs Volunteers to Move Forward

By an IPS Correspondent Reprint | | Print |

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 5 2012 (IPS) - The United Nations believes that International Volunteer Day shows that people working without expectation of material reward are an essential feature to tackle world challenges. Currently there are over 7,700 UN Volunteers (UNV) worldwide.

“As we celebrate the impact of volunteers on our world, let us remember the many places they are needed: in war zones and classrooms, in hospitals and homes – wherever struggling people seek a helping hand,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement released Wednesday.

The International Volunteer Day of Economic and Social Development, commemorated annually on Dec 5, is an opportunity to highlight how volunteers work within international organisations, government agencies, non-profit institutions, community groups, academia, the private sector—and, most importantly, how they contribute to development.

Moreover, there isn’t a unique way for volunteer commitment as Ban emphasized, explaining that “volunteering can embrace all people, from the activist who works full-time for a cause to the occasional citizen who reaches out when he or she can.”

Today, voluntarism is considered far different than in the past given that several billion people have access to new technologies such as Internet and the development of social networks, making a deep change in how volunteers can carry out their missions and reach their goals.

“The timeless act of volunteering in the service of others has taken on new dimensions in today’s digital age. Anyone with an Internet connection or a mobile phone can make a difference,” Ban stated.

“I am especially grateful to the 7,700 United Nations Volunteers who support efforts to prevent conflicts, help societies recover from fighting, promote sustainable development, assist in crisis situations and carry out numerous other projects for the greater good,” said Ban.

Volunteers are even seen as a strategic way to achieve numerous Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) related targets to combat poverty, hunger, disease or illiteracy for example and to make United Nations stronger on the ground.

“Their work has advanced the MDGs, and I am confident they will also contribute to the progress on the post-2015 development agenda,” he added.

“On this Day, let us renew our determination to offer strength and inspiration to others through volunteerism,” Ban concluded.