Northumbria University (United Kingdom) and the University of Pretoria (South Africa) join the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) for the upcoming State of the World's Volunteerism Report (SWVR) 2026. The Report's objective is to offer insights and approaches to measure the contributions and value of volunteering, along with establishing UNV as a leading voice on volunteer data and measurement.
The global contributions of volunteers and their significance to peace and development worldwide remain largely unquantified. There are three challenges in this respect—the lack of comprehensive data sets on volunteering, the obstacles faced when attempting to compare these data sets, stemming from the use of various tools and methodologies, and the absence of a cohesive measurement framework.
The forthcoming edition of the UNV's flagship report, the SWVR, will address these challenges by investing in data sets, enhancing methodologies, and proposing a unified measurement framework through a volunteer index.
The Report will benefit from the expertise of UNV partners—Northumbria University under the umbrella of its Centre for Global Development will lead research, writing, and analytical work, along with vital inputs of researchers from the Global South, University of Pretoria will lead the development of framework for a global volunteering index, and UNV's longstanding partner, the International Labour Organization will contribute updated data on global estimates of volunteer work. Collaboration with a broader network of researchers from around the world is also underway.
Some questions that the SWVR is poised to answer: Is there a link between volunteering and the well-being of an individual? What is the value of volunteers to communities? How to measure the value of volunteers to economic and social development in societies? What is the economic value of volunteering?
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Every three years, UNV produces the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, a flagship UN publication designed to strengthen the understanding of volunteerism and demonstrate its universality, scope, and reach in the twenty-first century. Click here to read previous editions of SWVR.