Drawing on original research in 15 communities across the globe, the 2018 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR) presents new evidence on the role of volunteerism in strengthening community resilience. Based on the report's emerging findings, the project is organizing Policy Challenges to bring in different groups of people to make policy suggestions, some of which may be incorporated into the final report.
FIRST POLICY CHALLENGE WITH VOLUNTEERS
Last 23 November, a Policy Challenge took place at the Kibira National Park Lodge in Bugarama, Muramvya Province of Burundi. Representatives from Red Cross Burundi, UN Volunteers and local authorities gathered to recommend policy options for governments, UN agencies and civil society while visiting local community volunteers in Bugarama. The group discussion focused on optimizing community volunteers’ actions in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and environmental protection. According to them, most of the immediate risks faced by communities are related to environment and climate change impacts. The group highlighted the need to develop a strong culture for adapting and mitigating risks through volunteerism.
SECOND POLICY CHALLENGEWITH CIVIL SOCIETY
The second Policy Challenge took place in Bujumbura, as a side event of the International Volunteer Day 2017. The discussion focused more on volunteerism framework and development, highlighting the importance of youth volunteerism, youth employment and peace building/social cohesion.
INTERESTED IN HOSTING A POLICY CHALLENGE?
Hosting a SWVR 2018 Policy Challenges is an opportunity to review findings from the SWVR field research and present solutions that could be taken up by UN Member States (national and/or local government level), civil society, and UN agencies and programmes as part of resilience-building efforts. We are looking for diverse groups to discuss the emerging findings from the field research and to tell us how they would respond. We would particularly like to encourage inputs from all groups that are under-represented in decision-making processes relating to risk reduction and resilience.
For more information, visit www.unv.org/swvr/swvr-policy-challenge