State of the World Voluteerism Report

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) organisation is preparing the first ever report on the State of the World’s Volunteerism.

Produced by the United Nations with the assistance of consultants and academics from around the world, the report is set to be launched on International Volunteer Day – December 5th, 2011.

According to UNV, the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report will present an alternative vision to the one widely prevailing today, regarding what volunteerism is and why it is important.

The Report is expected to address what is meant by volunteerism, why people volunteer, their time, the many ways people choose to volunteer and the impact of this engagement.

The Report will then take up a number of key global issues that intersect with volunteerism, selected because of their critical nature and/or because of ongoing polarized discussion around them.

UNV says the final section of the Report will be forward looking with conclusions and recommendations that should assist policy makers, practitioners, researchers and all other concerned stakeholders; including the people who participate in, and directly benefits from, volunteer action.

Benjamin Lough, a researcher on international volunteering at Washington University and contributor to the State of the World Volunteerism Report says published research on effective practices in international volunteering is pretty scant.

Meeting with UNV staff in Germany to discuss the Report, Lough addressed the issue of how volunteers are perceived – many people do not see volunteers as highly specialised professionals.

UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri says there is a big misconception that equates volunteers with incompetence.

She says volunteers who are highly qualified and educated are often not seen as volunteers because of the high level of competence and technical expertise that they bring to development work.

The UNV is currently calling for applications from consultants to prepare a suite of background and special interest papers. Regional consultations are also planned.

Special interest papers will cover the areas of:

• Volunteerism among the Poor
• Youth and Volunteerism
• Gender and Volunteerism
• Volunteerism as a Force for Social Inclusion
• Volunteerism and the State
• Volunteerism and Governance 
• Volunteerism and Technology in the ‘Digital Age’
• The Role of the Media and Entertainment in Volunteerism
• International/Transnational Volunteerism
• Conflict Prevention and Recovery
• Climate Change, Environment, and Volunteerism
• Health and Volunteerism
• Education and Volunteerism

For information on how to take part in the report visit: http://jobs.undp.org/

Fore more information visit www.unv.org