UNDP South Africa

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.

Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation.

UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for recognition of volunteers, working with partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing an increasing number and diversity of volunteers, including experienced UNV volunteers, throughout the world. UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity.

Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is active in 140 countries. It is represented worldwide through the offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and reports to the UNDP Executive Board.

UNV was created by the UN General Assembly in 1970 to serve as an operational partner in development co-operation. UNV is administered by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Every year over 5,000 UN Volunteers from more than 150 different nationalities support the programmes of the United Nations itself, United Nations Funds and its specialized agencies in developing countries. Since its inception UNV has fielded 30,000 volunteers.

UN Volunteers assist in technical co-operation for development, supporting community-based initiatives, humanitarian relief and rehabilitation, technology, electoral processes and human rights. United Nations Volunteers work in all regions of the world, namely Africa; Arab States; Asia and Pacific; Europe, Commonwealth Independent States and Baltic countries; the Americas and the Caribbean. The largest global UNV programmes in recent times are in East Timor, Yugoslavia including Kosovo, Sierra Leone, India, Guatemala, Democratic Republic of Congo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kenya.