Strengthening volunteer infrastructure through innovative approaches

New Delhi, India
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The compilation of research findings launched in partnership with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports in India is an outcome of the India Volunteering Conclave held in August 2019 in New Delhi.

Over 250 stakeholders participated in the two-day event to promote volunteerism and youth participation in development processes and nation-building. They shared good practices and discussed innovative ideas and recommended strategies and policy interventions.

On International Volunteer Day, celebrating volunteering as a real wealth of Latin American nations

Lima, Peru
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For the first time, the Peruvian government organized a national event to convene volunteer leaders from all 24 regions of the country to jointly reflect, learn, collaborate and celebrate volunteer efforts in involving individuals, especially those left behind, in addressing development challenges. 

On International Volunteer Day, celebrating volunteering as a real wealth of Latin American nations

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For the first time, the Peruvian government organized a national event to convene volunteer leaders from all 24 regions of the country to jointly reflect, learn, collaborate and celebrate volunteer efforts in involving individuals, especially those left behind, in addressing development challenges. 

Engaging partners in promoting inclusion through volunteerism

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On Human Solidarity Day, UNV recognizes new partners placing their trust in UNV. These include non-traditional partners exploring avenues to advance volunteerism for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In 1971, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme deployed its first 35 UN Volunteers to serve in Chad, Bangladesh and Yemen with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Two years later, in 1973, the number grew to 93 UN Volunteers serving for the International Labour Organization (ILO), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and FAO.

UNV receives Career Development Roundtable award for Innovation in Recruitment

St. Gallen, Switzerland
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The CDR Awards recognize innovation in the day-to-day work of human resources practitioners from the international public sector in the fields of recruitment and employee engagement. With support from public and private sector organisations, the CDR Awards provide the opportunity to showcase, share and learn from the collective experience in successfully addressing strategic or operational challenges, as well as recognize the potential of creativity and the people behind it.

What issue did we set out to address?

UNV receives Career Development Roundtable award for Innovation in Recruitment

UNDP-UNV Talent Programme For Young Professionals With Disabilities
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The CDR Awards recognize innovation in the day-to-day work of human resources practitioners from the international public sector in the fields of recruitment and employee engagement. With support from public and private sector organisations, the CDR Awards provide the opportunity to showcase, share and learn from the collective experience in successfully addressing strategic or operational challenges, as well as recognize the potential of creativity and the people behind it.

What issue did we set out to address?

Strengthening the social inclusion of young Roma through UN Community Volunteer opportunities

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The UN Community Volunteer category was implemented for the first time in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Serbia. Through it, UNDP and UNHCR developed skills and enhanced the employability of 45 young Roma, including internally displaced persons, by offering them UN Community Volunteer assignments. These young Roma were deployed in local institutions, which were supported to formulate, implement and monitor Roma inclusion policies at the local level.

Roma belong to the largest ethnic minority in Serbia and are still among the most deprived communities, often facing discrimination, social exclusion and unequal access to employment, education, housing and health services. The 2017 Regional Survey on socio-economic position of vulnerable Roma in the Western Balkans, commissioned by UNDP, showed that the biggest challenges for social inclusion of Roma in Serbia are their high unemployment and inactivity rates. While the education aspect has improved for Roma, it is not resulting in their employment.

Refugees serving as UN Volunteer Teachers educate fellow refugees displaced from Syria to Lebanon

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In Lebanon, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) approached UNV seeking a way to recruit teachers to support the learning needs of Palestinian refugee children arriving from Syria — refugees twice-displaced due to conflict in the region. UNRWA wanted to assure that education could be provided to these children to help them recover from the shocks of conflict and to give them future opportunities to succeed in life despite their circumstances.

The solution brokered by UNV was the recruitment of Palestinian refugees to serve as UN Volunteer Teachers, a strategy that both reinforces the skills of Palestinian refugees and answers the needs of their communities in Lebanon.

In total, around 206 UN Volunteer teachers were deployed over the course of 3 school years, to provide quality, inclusive and equitable education services to both 31,231 Palestinian refugee children already living in Lebanon and 5,318 Palestinian refugee children who newly arrived from Syria.

The support of UN Volunteer teachers was extended to UNRWA schools for the academic years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018.

Volunteering as a pathway for refugees to transition from education to employment

Geneva, Switzerland
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Education is one of six themes at the centre of the GRF, critical to the support of refugees and the countries that host them. The Spotlight Session focused on tertiary education for refugees, through a conversation about how barriers are being overcome, how interventions are improving the quality or expanding the quantity of opportunities available, and ultimately, how higher education pathways can support self-reliance and solutions for refugees.

Promoting refugee empowerment and livelihoods through volunteerism

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DAFI (Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative) is a programme of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), funded by the Government of Germany, that plays an integral role in enabling refugees to access higher education in their country of asylum and contribute to their reintegration upon repatriation.Since 1992, the DAFI programme has awarded scholarships to over 15,500 refugees to study at universities in over 50 countries of asylum. In 2018, UNHCR and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme partnered to complement the DAFI programme to empower young refugee graduates in West and Central Africa by offering them the opportunity to serve as UN Volunteers. 

The UNHCR-UNV DAFI Initiative seeks to expand the success of the DAFI programme by addressing the difficulties that graduated refugees face when trying to enter the job market.

The Initiative constitutes an opportunity for the DAFI graduates to gain professional experience as UN Volunteers in the UN System, where they can contribute with their unique background and perspectives to help achieving the SDGs.

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