The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in India, Youth Ki Awaaz (YKA) and Action/2015 are convinced that India’s young population and their spirit of volunteerism can help overcome poverty and achieve the sustainable development agenda. They are therefore constantly exploring possibilities to mobilize and engage volunteers and to give voice to the youth of the country.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. UNV is the only entity capable of mobilizing large numbers of highly qualified volunteers, who serve the UN system in war-torn communities, classrooms, hospitals and homes.

United Nations Volunteers (UNV), the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide, has established volunteer schemes that have given the opportunity to hundreds of thousands of volunteers to contribute at the community and national level. National volunteers are able to make lasting, positive changes in their communities and countries.

Volunteerism engages people from the ground up to make lasting changes. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. It promotes the spirit of volunteerism, which is spreading as a way of life. UNV is the only entity capable of mobilizing large numbers of highly qualified volunteers, who serve the UN system in war-torn communities, classrooms, hospitals and homes.

Volunteers are playing a vital role in making governments worldwide more accountable and responsive to their citizens, but their potential is seriously under-valued, a new report from the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme said today. The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2015 is the first global survey of the contribution of volunteers to better governance, a prerequisite for the success of the new Sustainable Development Goals to be agreed at the United Nations in September.

One the occasion of International Women's Day, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme would like to encourage women to apply to international UN Volunteer assignments.  Please visit our website for more information: www.unv.org

Last week, the Volunteerism Caravan in Cambodia rolled into Kratie province, where the UNV Field Unit took part in a community activity at the Kratie Krong High school. The UNV Field Unit in Cambodia launched the Volunteerism Caravan in June 2014 to travel to different provinces in the country, inspired by a similar activity organized in Tunisia as part of the Arab Youth Volunteering for a Better Future project.

How does volunteering make a difference? These days, we are trying to do development differently: to partner with less usual suspects for outside insights, and tap into local energy and initiatives. The ethos of volunteerism is exactly the same – it is not a supplement to the work we do; it is a natural component within it. And with whom do we partner up to do this? The answer, of course, is young people. They are the natural choice.

Volunteering is an effective avenue for creating constructive partnerships between nations, communities and individuals and between governments, civil society and the private sector. The role volunteerism plays in making development genuinely people centered should be properly recognized.

"Volunteering for post-2015" is about how volunteerism contributes to sustainable development and refers to the ongoing post-2015 process for the definition of the new global development framework. Listen to what volunteering means for people from different cultures through interviews made in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala, Nepal, Peru, and the Philippines, and find out why it is important for all of them. It probably is for you as well!