The 2014-2015 annual report on the Program for Human Resource Development for Peacebuilding through Volunteer Assignments is now available. The report details the experience and contributions of the 16 Japanese nationals deployed during 2014 and 2015 as United Nations Volunteers under the HRD Program which is a joint partnership among the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Hiroshima Peacebuilders Center and UNV, funded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The UNGA anticipating discussions on the post-2015 development agenda, in its resolution 67/138 requested the Secretary-General to report at its seventieth session and to include a plan of action, developed by UNV.

Drawing on evidence from countries as diverse as Brazil, Kenya, Lebanon and Bangladesh, the UN report shows how ordinary people are volunteering their time, energies and skills to improve the way they are governed and engaged at local, national and global levels. Better governance at every level is a pre-requisite for the success of the new set of targets for future international development, the Sustainable Development Goals, which are due to be agreed at the United Nations in September 2015.

UNV and the National Youth Council of Fiji jointly published what is probably the country’s first report on youth volunteerism. Engage. Empower. Experience – Youth Volunteerism in Fiji, was launched in Suva, Fiji on 12 June 2015, produced by a team which included youth volunteers, who took part in every aspect of the report, from the design, collection and analysis of the research on which it was based, to the report’s recommendations.

When Nepal experienced a devastating earthquake on 25 April last year with the epicentre close to Kathmandu, UNV responded by rapidly recruiting about 200 national UN Volunteers, funded by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and fielded them in such vital areas as coordination of the response effort, rubble removal and early reconstruction.

Volunteerism is one of the most basic expressions of solidarity and societal cohesion, often arising out of long-established traditions of sharing and reciprocal exchanges. When the values of volunteerism are structurally integrated into global efforts to eradicate poverty and sustain development and peace, volunteerism becomes a powerful means of engaging people in these challenges. Volunteerism helps transform the pace and nature of development and consolidates peacebuilding.

In 2014, UNV brought together all of its work on youth under the Global UN Youth Volunteers Programme.  The programme scales-up and replicates best practices, and supports new initiatives that best nurture the power and potential of youth while bringing their voices into global peace and development processes. Under the programme, regional UNV projects like Arab Youth Volunteering for a Better Future are already working to empower youth and strengthen their capacities as active participants in development of their countries. 

In 2014, UN Volunteers were at the forefront of development efforts and crisis response around the world. In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, UNDP and other UN partners engaged UN Volunteers to support emergency relief efforts and resilience projects in hard-hit communities. Thanks to UNV’s extensive database of technical expertise, the UN was able to rapidly deploy skilled UN Volunteers in the areas where they were most needed.

  We are volunteering for the world we want. The UNV Annual Report: Volunteering for the World We Want depicts the work and achievements of UN Volunteers in addressing the challenges of peace and sustainable human development. This report highlights UNV’s partnerships and results, and attests to the commitment, creativity and talent of our UN Volunteers, UN Youth Volunteers and UN Online Volunteers.

The University Volunteer Scheme (UVS) was designed to complement the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme’s community coordination under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) within the People Centred Development Program (PCDP) in Papua and West Papua. These provinces have the lowest Human Development Index (HDI) rating in Indonesia. The main expected output under the revised PCDP was two university volunteer schemes developed and managed by partner universities in Papua and West Papua.