View associated PDF document - United Nations Volunteers

More documents

Recommendations

Info

UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Caring Cities’ Volunteering in Urban Development and the role of the United Nations Volunteer Programme PART II – THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME Thematic view and illustrations PART II – THE UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS PROGRAMME Thematic view and illustrations Page 62 Page 63 UNV has included the above approach in a number of projects. One example is the project with the university volunteer scheme in Nicaragua, presented before, which includes not only a focus on physical reconstruction, but also on the recuperation of the cultural heritage of the settlements. UNV also has a project with UNESCO, entitled Cultural Heritage Volunteers, which include the protection of heritage sites in Palestine, Nepal, Uzbekistan, Guatemala and India (see text T). ments and support activities to safeguard cultural heritage in other ways. The countries included in this project are Guatemala, India, Nepal, Palestine and Uzbekistan. This text includes illustrations from two of these countries. In Nepal, UNV’s involvement is part of an overall safeguarding campaign for Kathmandu Valley. The project covers seven sites with a total of 132 buildings that are in urgent need of attention. The intention is to restore the buildings and make them suitably attractive for tourism. The project’s seven sites are: Durbar Square at Bhaktapur, Durbar Square at Patan, Pashupati, Durbar Square at Bhadgaon, Changunaraian, Swayambhu and Bodanath. The specific restoration work carried out is architectural in nature, and in most cases, it includes roof repair and structural reinforcement. This has become necessary because of damage caused by earthquakes as well as uncontrolled urbanisation and demographic growth. UNV’s work in helping the local population has already started with the restoration and repair of dilapidated traditional wells and water stone spouts. Community participation, especially of women and youth, was encouraged in these restoration activities. With the help of an awareness programme and lectures, the local people began to appreciate the quality of ground water, hygiene and the importance of the use and future maintenance of the stone spouts. Other project activities likewise feature community participation activities. In Uzbekistan, the proposal has been conceived as a pilot project to provide on-the-job training to Uzbek architects in the use of modern restoration and conservation technology. The project targets sites in Shah-I-Zindah Mausoleum in Samarkand, Ismanid Mausoleum and the Buyan Kuli Khan Madrassa in Buhkara. 4.6. An integrated approach As noted at the beginning of this section, urban development is a complex and multi-sectoral field. While this section divided it into five broad domains (for the sake of simplifying the presentation), it should also be noted that many of the projects presented above in fact cut across more than one domain and through different sectors of urban development. For example, the project in Port Harcourt develops a governance process while bringing concrete improvements for the children; one of the activities in Monrovia mixes income generation with garbage recycling; the project in Nicaragua mixes post-disaster reconstruction with the recuperation of cultural heritage; to mention just a few cases. The multisectoral character of urban development actually highlights a significant advantage of UNV’s contribution as a partner in development assistance. UNV’s framework of action includes volunteerism in the different sectors. Therefore, UNV is able to catalyse the synergies and complementarity between the volunteer contributions in the different sectors of the
UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Caring Cities’ Volunteering in Urban Development and the role of the United Nations Volunteer Programme CONCLUSION Page 64 Page 65 This paper has shown the importance of volunteerism in the development of human settlements as well as the urban agenda of UNV, noting the comparative advantages and the ability of this agency to add value. In his evaluation of a set of UNV projects, Cohen (2000: 3) noted that this agency has the distinctiveness of… ‘possessing the leverage of being located within the UN system but in many ways operating with the flexibility of an NGO’. This is a simple encapsulation of how UNV differs from other UN agencies, as well as from non-UN agencies working at the grassroots. In specific relation to work at the urban grassroots, a quotation from research conducted by UNRISD provides a good summary of its importance, as well as of the role of UNV in particular: ‘The main conclusion of this study is that UNV has an important role to play in urban grassroots development, or more correctly, in fostering social cohesion and development in cities and towns. The research has confirmed earlier findings of UNV’s action research in urban communities showing that a rapidly integrating global economy is disproportionately disadvantaging vulnerable and marginalized groups, many of whom are either already in cities or on their way. Moreover, while these global forces may instigate collective action at certain points, in the long run they erode the capacity of community and volunteer organisations to respond effectively to the negative impacts’. (Westendorff, 1999: 16.) but also shortly before ‘Istanbul + 5’ (in June 2001) which will review global achievements in urban development since the ‘Istanbul’ Conference of 1996 and also discuss future actions. Therefore IYV 2001 and Istanbul + 5 together constitute an excellent opportunity to discuss ways of consolidating and strengthening UNV’s value and contribution as a partner in the international effort to combat urban problems in the developing and transitional countries. While volunteerism is fundamental in human settlements, it is still overlooked as a resource. It is important, therefore, to discuss ways to expand the role of volunteerism in urban development. Cities are shaped by the sum of the innumerable daily decisions, attitudes and behaviours of individuals and groups. Many of the maladies that currently plague urban areas could be ameliorated or even abolished if such decisions, attitudes and behaviours were impregnated with a greater degree of solidarity. Volunteerism can be instrumental, among other things, to help develop norms of solidarity and reciprocity, which are essential to stable communities. Volunteerism can build the foundations for the construction of caring cities. This approach is important in order to; ‘… overcome the rather instrumental use of concepts such as partnership, collaboration and participation evident in many development programmes and projects. It will also highlight the personal, cultural and locally specific contributions to social development. These are necessary antidotes to the homogenised development formulas now in vogue, which continue to leave the majority in deep poverty’. (Westendorff, 1999: 16.) UNV’s current urban agenda has been the result of thirty years of experience and learning. As noted in the introduction of this paper, it has evolved from scattered activities to systemic programming, culminating with the choice of urban development as one of the agency’s priorities. This publication has come out not only during the International Year of the Volunteer (IYV 2001)
Page 3 and 4: CARING CITIES VOLUNTEERISM IN URBAN
Page 5 and 6: UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Carin
Page 33: UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Carin
Page 37: UN Volunteers Policy Paper ‘Carin

View associated PDF document - United Nations Volunteers

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?