The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is inspired by the conviction that volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges worldwide. Everyone can contribute their time, skills and knowledge through volunteer action, and their combined efforts can be a significant force for achieving peace and development.

The concept of volunteerism for development centers on optimizing volunteerism’s impact on peace and development. Achieving this requires the cooperation and commitment of the public sector, civil society and the private sector with support from the United Nations system and the world community. Individual citizens also have an important role to play through volunteering.

Volunteerism for development enhances the capacity of people to exercise choices to set and achieve their own development objectives, which can result in real improvements that benefit others as well as themselves. If development is to be effective and sustainable, the people affected by it must take ownership of, and give relevance to, its processes and drive them forward through civic engagement.

Every day, individuals are engaged in development initiatives through volunteer actions both large and small in an effort to improve conditions for others and themselves. Volunteerism by many millions of people is critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Volunteerism strengthens—and is strengthened by—trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism is purposeful, creating opportunities for citizens to participate in development. Through volunteerism, more people participate in development, and at all levels of society, which empowers them and gives them a personal stake in their country’s future.

In this way, volunteerism fosters secure and stable environments conducive to the peaceful resolution of conflict. UNV strengthens the capacities of national partners, enabling local ownership of peace and development processes and encouraging recognition of volunteers and their cohesive engagement for peacebuilding.

UNV contributes to volunteerism for development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging the integration of volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers. The UNV programme advocates for environments in which volunteerism can flourish and people have the ability and the right to participate in the development process. We promote the integration of volunteering into the objectives and activities of partners such as governments and development organizations, and we do so to facilitate national ownership of development processes. UNV also mobilizes, and supports others to mobilize, large numbers of people to volunteer in pursuit of human development.

Volunteering for MDGs in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, about 30 national and international United Nations Volunteer work with other UN agencies and local stakeholders towards achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals.

MDG Achievement Fund Youth Employability and Retention Programme
Bosnia and Herzegovina has one of the highest unemployment rates in entire Europe, and the most affected group are young people: recent survey indicates that youth unemployment is about 57.5%. In addition, the education system in the country is not fully adjusted to meet market needs. When they leave school, youth find that they are not able to find jobs, leading to discouragement, apathy and social exclusion. The Youth Employability and Retention Programme aims to respond to high youth unemployment and prevent the drain of valuable resources from the country.

UNV is one of five implementing agencies (UNDP, UNV, UNICEF, UNFPA, IOM) of the 3 year joint MDG Achievement Fund YERP programme which commenced on 1 January 2010. Implemented in partnership with local institutions, this programme seeks to enhance the capacities of the public employment services and civil society to develop and deliver an integrated package of youth employability measures; increase the capacity of the education system to improve youth employability; and minimize the negative impacts of youth out migration.

About 20 of our volunteers serve as the Youth Employment Counselor-Advisors in the newly created Youth Employment Centres helping youth increase their employability by offering information on job opportunities at the market, education and employment opportunities, organizing skills workshops and training, and providing individual counsel. All centers are also equipped with computers and internet access to enable young people to search for jobs.

To learn more about this program or learn about the CISO nearby you, visit www.un.ba or look for YERP on Facebook.

MDG Achievement Fund Environment and Climate Change Programme
UNV is one of five implementing agencies (UNDP, UNV, UNESCO, UNEP, FAO) of the 3 year joint MDG Achievement Fund Environment and Climate Change programme which commenced on 1 January 2010. Implemented in cooperation with the domestic institutions and civil society organizations, the MDG-F Environment programme aims to improve local level environmental management through developing effective local participatory environmental planning and service delivery and raising awareness and local actions in support of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) goals.

Interventions centre on providing capacity and support for developing Local Environmental Action Plans in partner municipalities providing conditions for implementing local environmental management and service delivery priorities, raising the awareness and national level support for environmental action through an environmental financing, and developing effective systems for capturing environmental data. In total, 7 UNV volunteers are involved in the development of local environmental actions plans.

To learn more about this program, visit www.un.ba

Online Volunteering
If you have access to a computer and the Internet coupled with the right skills then you should consider volunteering online. There are many organizations that are tapping into this method. Your roles as online volunteer can range from giving free legal advice to NGOs in developing countries to building nonprofit websites.Your skills could be a programming knowledge, good writing ability, experience in project management, knowledge of another language, expertise in law or education or another profession, or simply the time to offer expert advice or answer email for the host organization. Online volunteering is perfect if you have limited time or no transportation, and also opens up exciting opportunities for disabled volunteers.

Online volunteers undertake a variety of assignments for organizations: translations, research, web design, data analysis, database construction, proposal writing, editing articles, online mentoring, publication design, moderating an online discussion group, or any other services that can be done through computer networks.

Last but not least, online volunteering allows Bosnian and Herzegovinian expatriates and Diaspora to reconnect with their native country in a way that triggers further development and self-sustainability of the region.

If you are interested in volunteering online, your first stop should be UNV's Online Volunteering service at www.onlinevolunteering.org which connects development organizations and volunteers over the Internet and supports their effective online collaboration.

A steadily increasing number of civil society organizations, governmental institutions and United Nations organizations recognize the value of online volunteering. The figures speak for themselves: 10,000 online volunteers engaged in development projects through the UNV Online Volunteering service in 2010 and carried out 15,000 assignments.

Online volunteering gives development organizations access to a broader pool of knowledge and resources to enhance their capacities, while it offers individuals worldwide additional opportunities to volunteer for development and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.