In 2000, 10 million people volunteered to support the immunization of 550 million children as part of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. The vast majority were concerned citizens, volunteering in their own communities. They gave their time to ensure that children reported to immunization stations, were properly documented and received the oral vaccine. What is not counted often does not count, but the estimated total value of the support provided by these volunteers was US $10 billion, putting it well beyond the reach of either governments or the United Nations and its partner organizations. Capacity was developed in the process. In return for their time, the local volunteers received health training and the opportunity to play a pivotal role in future international efforts in their communities.

1. Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) will require the ingenuity, solidarity, and creativity of millions of ordinary people though voluntary action. Efforts on the part of national governments, supported by the international community, can only complement what ultimately will depend on the full involvement of people all over the world. Six billion people have something to contribute. Recognizing this fact is the first step on the road towards harnessing this vast resource in a global effort to meet the MDG targets.

2. The International Year of Volunteers (IYV) 2001 created global awareness about the massive contribution individuals make to development through voluntary action . Whether expressed as volunteer service, mutual aid and self-help, campaigning or other forms of voluntary participation, the willingness and ability of citizens to give freely of their time out of a sense of solidarity will have a major influence on the extent to which the MDGs are attained and sustained.

3. Volunteerism is a cross cutting social phenomenon that involves all groups and all aspects of human activity. Citizen participation in voluntary action is both an opportunity and an imperative. Moreover, volunteerism can be positively influenced and strategically channelled. For instance, International Volunteer Day (IVD) on 5 December of each year can provide a rallying point for organizations and individual volunteers to express their support for the MDGs and to consider ways to help achieve the targets.

4. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV), the UN organization that promotes volunteerism and mobilizes volunteers for peace and development, can be instrumental in supporting the attainment of the MDGs. UNV already manages a unique programme that each year involves over 5000 skilled and experienced professionals from some 160 countries around the world who work in 140 countries in a broad range of development programmes, which are at the core of the MDGs. In so doing, UNV provides a window of opportunity for qualified global citizens, whatever their origins, to share their expertise and to demonstrate solidarity with and support for the aspirations of the Millennium Declaration.

5. UNV has both experience and a number of assets to draw on in helping to ensure that the power of volunteerism is recognized and acted upon in support of the MDGs, including:

• A global volunteer network of which the more than 5000 UN volunteers themselves are only a part
• A direct link to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), working through an extensive network of UNDP country offices
• Close partnerships with the United Nations and most UN system organizations, funds and programmes, as well as with international and national volunteer involving organizations and volunteer networks
• Know-how in running a global campaign demonstrated by its recognized success as focal point of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV 2001)
• The World Volunteer Web (www.worldvolunteerweb.org ), a global volunteering portal, which houses a growing data base of information resources that can be used for campaigning, advocacy, networking and action
• An active online volunteering programme (www.onlinevolunteering.org) that has more than 12,000 individuals registered to work on the international development issues that are at the core of the MDGs.

6. UNV also manages a range of other programme activities in developing countries such as supporting efforts to measure the economic and social contribution of voluntary action; identifying and sharing best practices in the field of volunteerism; promoting suitable capacity development for national volunteer centres and volunteer schemes; and fostering the creation of training infrastructure for organizations to introduce and enhance volunteer opportunities for citizens.

ⁱ Voluntary action is at the core of social capital and underpins most social action in civil society. It occurs spontaneously as is often the case during natural disasters where citizens come forward to voluntarily assist the victims of floods, earthquakes or forest fires. It is also expressed through civil society organizations. CSOs encompass a very broad range of types and serve an array of constituencies. However, one feature they all have in common is that their roots lie in volunteerism. People join non-governmental organizations to volunteer a wide range of services in every field covered by the MDGs. People also volunteer to serve in the governance structures of the organizations themselves. Volunteerism is also present, in a less visible way, through membership in innumerable grassroots associations found in every part of the globe. Generally drawing on long-established traditions of sharing skills, time, ideas and energy, the full alignment of volunteer action through community groups with the MDGs is critical in addressing the challenges.

ⁱⁱ One of the most successful global campaigns of recent times - the International Campaign to Ban Landmines relied on the active participation of hundreds of thousands of volunteers. Large numbers of citizens have been mobilized around other campaigns in such fields as literacy, debt relief, human rights, sustainable environment and violence against women.

ⁱⁱⁱ Networking among volunteers and volunteer involving organizations is a critical factor in the scaling-up and replication of experiences across communities and national frontiers.

UN Volunteers February 2004