Promoting Volunteerism for Peace and Development

DURING YOUR ASSIGNMENT . 33“I tried to bring my NGO and the selfhelpgroups we worked with togetherwith UNV and other volunteerorganisations, both local andinternational. I think exchanging ideasand meeting other volunteers is veryimportant.“Isabel Specker, UN Volunteer intern inMongoliaInternational Volunteer DayInternational Volunteer Day (IVD),celebrated each year on 5 December,provides a special opportunity for allvolunteers to highlight the role ofvolunteerism in helping to achieve theMillennium Development Goals.Join your fellow UN Volunteers, as wellas national and local volunteer-involvingorganizations and their volunteers, incelebrating and raising awareness of theimportant contribution that volunteerismmakes to development.International Volunteer Day offers a greatopportunity to build solidarity and attractattention to volunteerism for peace anddevelopment. Invite your colleagues andother contacts in your country ofassignment to participate in InternationalVolunteer Day events, includingpreparations and follow up. You mighteven organize an event yourself.In Afghanistan on InternationalVolunteer Day 2007, UN Volunteerscollaborated with other UN agenciesand local ministries to educate localyouth in different regions andempower them to initiate their ownvolunteer projects for the benefit oftheir communities. The volunteerstrained the youth about health andsanitation issues, and then the youngpeople went back to their homecommunities to educate their peersand further spread awareness ofvolunteerism for development.Despite security restrictions and otherchallenges to organizing regularprogramming, International VolunteerDay was a successful vehicle foreducating Afghan youth in differentregions. According to Karma Loday,OiC/UNV Support Officer in theUnited Nations Assistance Mission inAfghanistan, “there is no securitysituation that will hinder volunteersdetermined to make a difference.“