Bonn, Germany – This week, a partnership agreement was signed between the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the Republic of Kazakhstan. The commitment to a strengthened partnership between UNV and the Republic of Kazakhstan extends to supporting UN Volunteer assignments for Kazakhstani nationals to serve within the United Nations system. "We highly appreciate the partnership with the Republic of Kazakhstan and the commitment to continue to promote volunteerism within the country and globally," states Olivier Adam, Executive Coordinator of UNV.

The Special Voluntary Fund (SVF) is the second most important source of funding for UNV. Projects and programmes around the globe benefit from the generosity of donors who entrust their voluntary contributions to UNV and leave the allocation of these substantial funds at the discretion of our organization. We are keenly aware of the responsibility conferred on us by the willingness of UN Member States and other donors to support our work.

Germany is host and strong partner to the United Nations presence in the country. The Federal City of Bonn is home to numerous UN organizations, programmes and offices. Today there are 24 UN institutions based in Bonn, with more than 1,000 members of staff. UNV moved to Bonn in 1996.

In 2017, Sida and UNV signed the first agreement to supporting full funding of UN Youth Volunteer assignments for Swedish Volunteers. During 2022, 109 Swedish nationals served as UN Volunteers. The Government of Sweden funded 148 volunteer assignments in total.

In 2022, 26 Czech nationals served as UN Volunteers, 15 of whom were funded by the Government of Czechia. The Government also provides a contribution to UNV’s Special Voluntary Fund (SVF), a flexible resource to implement UNV’s Strategic Framework.  

During 2022, 50 Finnish nationals served as UN Volunteers, 45 of whom were funded by the Government of Finland. 

France directly supports UNV activities and in 2019 presented its National Situational Analysis on Volunteering, a source for generating evidence and data on volunteerism.

During 2022, 46 Irish nationals served as UN Volunteers, 36 of whom were funded by the Government of Ireland. The Government also provides a contribution to UNV’s Special Voluntary Fund (SVF), a flexible resource to implement UNV’s Strategic Framework.