In Latin America, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme are partnering on an innovative volunteerism model to encourage financial inclusion and socioeconomic recovery. Their aim? To work towards a post-pandemic recovery that reflects the needs of the marginalized.
Latin America is the region with the most economic inequality in the world. Some 80 per cent of the population work in the informal economy sector, not profiting from basic services like social security programmes. According to the UNDP report, Volunteerism to foster development: concepts and prototypes (2021), 22 per cent do not have access to clean water, 34 per cent do not have an internet connection, and 45 per cent are excluded from financial services, such as bank accounts.