Sustainability is something we can't stop talking about. It's at the forefront of conversations and dialogues. So was the case for my volunteer assignment—promoting sustainable development guidelines in project planning and execution.

With her knowledge, Johanna motivates young people to keep tradition alive by teaching them the art of weaving. The toquilla straw hat is woven from fibers of palm trees characteristic of the Ecuadorian coast. Pile, Johanna's hometown, is a coastal community and the toquilla straw hat is part of cultural heritage.  

Sumak is a member of the Cacha community, part of the Puruwa nation in Chimborazo province, Ecuador. She began serving as a UN Volunteer as part of the partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) in 2017, after working for women's rights in the Ecuadorian National Assembly.

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. 

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly recognizes volunteer groups as key actors to achieve the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Following the launch of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Plan of Action for Integrating Volunteerism into the 2030 Agenda, through Resolution A/RES/70/129 "Integrating volunteering into peace and development: the plan of action for the next decade and beyond".

The implementation of Agenda 2030 in Latin America and the Caribbean requires an intercultural approach that favors integration and inclusion, especially relevant for the establishment of joint work and dialogue with communities identified values and traditions of the vast and varied range of indigenous peoples that inhabit the region

The fair and equitable distribution of the benefits derived from the use of genetic resources is one of the three pillars of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and its application is the main objective of the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing (ABS). More than 50 volunteers from indigenous populations and local universities collaborate to guarantee access to genetic resources and fair and equitable distribution of the benefits derived from their use in the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Panama.

Through a programmatic and financial collaboration, UNV supports the implementation of the Global ABS UNDP-GEF project "Strengthening human resources, legal frameworks, and institutional capacities to implement the Nagoya Protocol".

Rapid mobilization of UN Volunteers

Volunteerism enables youth engagement, leadership and participation Within Latin America and the Caribbean, young people between the ages of 15 and 24 account for 20 per cent of the population. This is the largest percentage of youth in this region, ever.  The statistics are dire: 35 million of these young people never attended school, 39 per cent live in poverty and 25 per cent are unemployed.