Advocating for volunteerism in the post-2015 development agenda at national level. by United Nations Volunteers

Advocating for volunteerism in the post-2015 development agenda at national level Preliminary report on post-2015 UN Volunteers (June 2014)

ABOUT UNV 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. http://www.unv.org

VOLUNTEER ACTION COUNTS In 2012 UNV launched the Volunteer Action Counts campaign to tell the world about the impact of volunteering by documenting the actions of volunteers across the globe. Over 64 million actions were counted by the time the Rio+20 summit took place — “a remarkable testament to bottom-up, grassroots commitment [...] yet one more demonstration of how Rio+20 is mobilizing a global movement for change”, as UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon said to the United Nations General Assembly on 28 June 2012. UNV continues the Volunteer Action Counts campaign, building on the achievements of Rio+20, to further raise awareness about the contribution of volunteerism to peace and development and to promote the integration of volunteerism into the post-2015 development agenda. The Volunteer Action Counts website and social media profiles continue to gather stories about concrete volunteer action and provide information about upcoming events, opportunities and best practices. http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org

Photo credits Top left: Kazakhstan: A UN Volunteer discusses about development and the post-2015 with an old woman to involve her in voting for the MY World survey. MY World is the UN global survey asking people to choose their priorities for a better world. Results are shared with world leaders setting the post-2015 development agenda. (UNV/Ji Hyun Yang, 2013) Top right: India: National UN Volunteer Amita Dahiya gives a speech on the occasion of Global Youth Service Day in New Delhi. (PIDT, 2013) Bottom: Brazil: On-site dialogue with the local indigenous community in Panambizinho, Mato Grosso do Sul, as part of the Brazilian UNDG post-2015 national consultations. (Gilmar Galache, 2013)

Table of contents ABOUT UNV ....................................................................................................................................................... 2 VOLUNTEER ACTION COUNTS ............................................................................................................................ 2 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................. 5 ADVOCATING FOR VOLUNTEERISM .................................................................................................................... 6 Volunteerism in the post-2015 process .............................................................................................................. 7 The UNV post-2015 project ................................................................................................................................ 8 NATIONAL-LEVEL ACTIVITIES .............................................................................................................................. 9 Support to national post-2015 consultations .................................................................................................. 9 Advocating for volunteerism through MY World........................................................................................... 10 Fostering stakeholder and youth engagement .............................................................................................. 11 STORIES FROM THE FIELD................................................................................................................................. 13 Haiti: Including marginalized people in discussing development ................................................................... 13 Rwanda: Ensuring youth participation for inclusive national consultations ................................................... 14 Bangladesh: Involving youth in addressing development .............................................................................. 15 Bhutan: Promoting volunteerism in a different vision of development ......................................................... 16 Turkey: Partnering with VIOs to position volunteerism in national policies ................................................... 16 Kazakhstan: Engaging youth in development ................................................................................................ 17 India: Partnering with stakeholders to support youth volunteerism.............................................................. 18 Sudan: Partnering for youth ......................................................................................................................... 19 Cambodia: Opening the conversation........................................................................................................... 20 Sri Lanka: Positioning youth volunteerism .................................................................................................... 20 Côte d’Ivoire: Reaching out to youth ............................................................................................................ 22 Guatemala: Partnering with students ........................................................................................................... 23 LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE POST-2015 VOLUNTEERS ..................................................................................... 24 THE POST-2015 VOLUNTEERS ........................................................................................................................... 25 KEY OUTCOMES ............................................................................................................................................... 26 THE WAY FORWARD ........................................................................................................................................ 28 POST-2015 PRODUCTS FROM THE FIELD .......................................................................................................... 29

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS UNV thanks the following partners for supporting UNV’s activities on post-2015, including through fully funding of UN Youth Volunteer assignments: the Government of Germany, represented by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (Bundeministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung - BMZ) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Government of Korea and the Government of Finland.

“Volunteerism has to start somewhere as a little light, a little spark- it is something that has to be guarded. Belief in volunteerism transcends my job, which is how I can convince others to volunteer, walk the talk; this is what also kept me going when I faced obstacles. I asked myself: “Wherever I go as a volunteer, what is the legacy I am going to leave behind? How do I create real value?” When I observe the Youth that I have been working with, and the impact on their life, the way they see things, you become aware how important you are as a role model.”

– Tharaka Sriram, UN Youth Volunteer in Côte d’Ivoire

INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) engaged in a global effort for the recognition, facilitation, networking and promotion of volunteerism. The experience gained in working towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) shows that volunteering is a way to engage people from the bottom up to address development objectives across the board. To ensure an equitable and accountable post-2015 development framework, a number of inclusive consultative processes are underway, engaging development partners and grassroots stakeholders, including youth, to define what comes next and to ensure that all voices are heard. UNV calls on governments and United Nations (UN) entities to promote mechanisms that meaningfully engage civil society in the formulation and implementation of internationally agreed goals. In this context, volunteerism is increasingly recognized as a form of civic engagement and a vital delivery mechanism for social, economic and environmental transformation, ensuring a lasting impact with its ability to change people’s mindsets, attitudes and behaviors and thus contributing to social cohesion and societal well-being. Through targeted advocacy, UNV aims to further integrate volunteerism into national and global discussions, policies and strategies shaping the post-2015 framework (including the Sustainable Development Goals) with initiatives planned both in view of the post-2015 deadline and for the next decade.

“People and communities should be the key drivers at the start, the end and throughout any effort to transform society, build resilience, mitigate conflict and achieve sustainable development.” Source: ‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013. p.4

ADVOCATING FOR VOLUNTEERISM UNV defines advocacy as ‘deliberate efforts, based on demonstrated evidence, aimed at persuading decision-makers to adopt policies and take action to promote the voice and participation of people in local and international development through volunteerism as a form of civic engagement’. Together with like-minded partners, it aims to communicate the legitimacy and primacy of people’s perspectives and helps to address critical programming and/or policy gaps in aid of development efforts, including through an increased engagement of volunteers in general and the assignment of UN Volunteers in particular. In addition to integrating volunteers into UN entities’ programmes, UNV is a global advocate for volunteerism. As such, it aims to bring knowledge and expertise from volunteers, volunteer-involving organizations (VIOs), civil society and other development practitioners to the attention of policymakers, and to suggest solutions for a long-lasting impact. In 2012, General Assembly Resolution A/Res/67/138 on ‘Integrating volunteering in the next decade’ welcomed “the creation of momentum in developing common platforms to increase support for volunteerism” and called upon the integration of volunteering in all relevant issues of the United Nations. Advocating for volunteerism is therefore particularly pertinent at a time when the first global development agenda approaches its deadline in 2015. Today’s relationship between people and the state is characterized by a desire for increased, more regular and effective interaction and accountability. This is clearly voiced by thousands around the world, and can be combined with new opportunities and possibilities for this interaction to become a reality. The definition of a new post-2015 development agenda offers a historic opportunity for UNV to advocate for volunteerism and the values it stands for as an inherent component of any future global development framework.

“The empowerment and meaningful participation of individuals and civil society in governance systems are necessary to tackle inequality and promote social inclusion. A key building block of good governance is empowerment, with enhanced and meaningful participation in decision-making processes. In seeking to foster active participation from the ground up, the post-2015 agenda should ensure that meaningful civil society participation is facilitated via a rights-driven framework, which protects and promotes freedom of information, expression, movement, association and assembly, while limiting trends towards increased state securitization” Source: ‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013. p.137

Volunteerism in the post-2015 process Defining the post-2015 development agenda is a process led by the United Nations that aims to shape a new global development framework to succeed the UN Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight global development objectives which come to an end in 2015. In 2010, governments reviewing action taken towards the MDGs at the High Level Plenary Meeting of the UN General Assembly (the MDG Summit) called for accelerating progress and for thinking on ways to advance the development agenda beyond 2015. The Summit committed to including a broader civil society stakeholder constituency comprising: “non-governmental organizations, voluntary associations and foundations, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders at the local, national, regional and global levels, to enhance their role in national development efforts as well as their contribution to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.” (A/RES/65/1). In 2012, at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20), 192 UN member states established an intergovernmental Open Working Group (OWG) to design Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as successors of the MDGs. The Rio+20 Outcome document similarly recognized “that sustainable development requires the meaningful involvement and active participation of Major Groups [...] as well as other stakeholders including [...] volunteer groups”. Rio+20 also established the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) to provide leadership and review progress in implementing sustainable development commitments. The GA resolution defining its architecture equally recognized “volunteer groups” as stakeholders, who are encouraged “to autonomously establish and maintain effective coordination mechanisms for participation in the highlevel political forum and for actions derived from that participation at the global, regional and national levels, in a way that ensures effective, broad and balanced participation by region and by type of organization” (A/Res/67/290). These two parallel processes have been complemented by a set of eleven global thematic consultations and a first round of national consultations in 88 countries led by the United Nations Development Group (UNDG), including a global outreach effort through the MY World Survey. ‘A million voices: The World We Want’ 1, the report of these consultations, also underlines the important contribution of volunteerism through numerous country examples and references. A second round of UNDG dialogues is taking place in 2014 to discuss the broad spectrum of issues related to the implementation of the post-2015 agenda that emerged strongly from the first round of discussions.

‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013 (http://www.worldwewant2015.org/millionvoices, accessed on 12.5.2014)

These include the partnership with civil society and new and participatory forms of monitoring and accountability. As part of the UNDG, UNV fully supports the UN system’s efforts towards the definition of a post-2015 framework, and helps to ensure that all voices are heard in this process. To better coordinate its efforts, UNV set up a corporate project on ‘Volunteering and sustainable development: Rio+20, the MDGs and post-2015 agenda’ (the ‘UNV post-2015 project’).

The UNV post-2015 project The overall aim of the UNV post-2015 project is to contribute to the UN system-wide efforts to shape the new development architecture beyond 2015, while demonstrating the specific contribution of volunteerism and the values it stands for, to enhance the achievement of development objectives across sectors. The project underpins UNV’s efforts to integrate volunteerism in the post-2015 debate by: •

strengthening national-level capacity to integrate volunteerism into discussions about development goals and to expand outreach and stakeholder engagement;

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engaging with key constituencies, mechanisms and institutions at national and global levels that are involved in the development of the new framework, including supporting the UNDGled national consultations and the roll-out of the MY World survey;

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developing thematic inputs and position papers outlining the contribution of volunteering to development issues and underlining its cross-cutting role as an enabling factor for sustainable outcomes.

The UNV post-2015 project recruited 41 volunteers for 2013-14 (post-2015 UN Volunteers): 24 national UN Volunteers, 15 international UN Youth Volunteers financially supported by Germany, and two more international UN Volunteers, supported by Finland and the Republic of Korea, deployed to Bhutan and Sri Lanka respectively. They were placed in 32 countries, including Algeria, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Mozambique, Nepal, Niger, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, TimorLeste, Turkey, Viet Nam and Zambia. The UNV post-2015 project also organized a pre-departure training for the UN Youth Volunteers funded by the German government, and a capacity building and networking workshop for the national UN Volunteers. The workshop aimed to strengthen the network among post-2015 national UN

volunteers, to build their capacity to advocate for policy changes, to collect evidence and to run workshops to assess the contribution of volunteerism to development at national level.

NATIONAL-LEVEL ACTIVITIES The post-2015 UN Volunteers contributed to UNV’s corporate efforts to integrate volunteerism into the post-2015 development agenda with a focus on leveraging the voices of stakeholders, in particular of youth constituencies, with regard to national post-2015 discussions. They also contributed to the work of their host entities: in most cases the UNV Field Unit, in some countries the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator. UN Volunteers’ main areas of activity include support to the UNDG post-2015 consultations, advocating for volunteerism through the MY World survey, and the engagement of stakeholders for joint positioning in a post-2015 context, with special focus on youth.

Support to national post-2015 consultations In 2013, 25 of the 37 post-2015 volunteers facilitated and promoted the UNDG-led multi-stakeholder national and regional post-2015 consultations which involved governments, UN entities and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). UN Volunteers supported the organization and follow-up of the national consultations, and helped to ensure that recommendations from Volunteer Involving Organizations (VIOs) were incorporated into national reports. They played an essential role in supporting the consultations by bringing VIOs and other civil society constituencies into the discussions, and including volunteerism and civic participation in the debates. This involved a great effort in fostering stakeholder engagement. Their support ranged from logistical assistance to process facilitation, coordination, stakeholder engagement, substantive contribution, and report drafting. In total, UNV supported over 30 of the 88 consultations, also thanks to the wider efforts of UNV Field Units, facilitating the participation of marginalized people and highlighting the contribution of volunteerism to sustainable development. Volunteerism and related concepts are mentioned in a number of national consultation reports from the countries where post-2015 volunteers were placed or UNV Field Units were engaged through the project. Thanks to their contribution, the UNDG report summarizing all national consultations2 features mentions of volunteerism from a number of countries. This acknowledgement has supported UNV’s efforts to increase recognition of volunteerism 2

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and to integrate volunteerism in the post-2015 development agenda, raising UNV’s profile in the international debate. Volunteers serving in countries where the UNDG consultations did not take place engaged with other related post-2015 processes. In Bhutan, for example, the post-2015 UN Volunteer supported the New Development Paradigm initiative; in Haiti, the post-2015 UN Volunteers substantively contributed to the national MDG/post-2015 report. Overall, the volunteers provided an important contribution to raising awareness on the post-2015 agenda in their country of assignment, and in making the process more transparent and inclusive. In 2014, the UNDG is promoting a second round of dialogues to discuss the means of implementation of the new framework, articulated in dialogues on six themes. The scope of the dialogues is national, regional and global. UNV has been nominated co-lead of the dialogue on ‘Partnerships with civil society and other actors’. UNV has also been nominated contributing agency for the dialogue on ‘Participatory monitoring, existing and new forms of accountability’, which is co-led by UNICEF and UN Women. Post-2015 UN Volunteers are supporting these dialogues, in some cases with a focal point role.

Advocating for volunteerism through MY World UNV is a strategic partner of MY World, a global survey for citizens led by the UN and partners aiming to capture people's voices, priorities and views. MY World results feed into the processes that build the post-2015 development agenda. In 2013, UNV Field Units and post-2015 UN Volunteers supported the roll-out of the MY World survey, especially offline, as a means of involving people and particularly the youth in the global discussion about development. The survey defines volunteerism as one of the indicators of “political freedom” (one of the 16 options), stating that “people should be able to join and participate in trade unions and all aspects of civil society including diverse forms of civic engagement and voluntary action”. Post-2015 UN Volunteers engaged with different age, gender and economic groups, and collaborated with local partners to promote civic participation through

MY WORLD VOTES THROUGH UNV

As of mid-May 2014, UNV had collected directly over 50,000 votes under its partner account; thousands more were collected through joint efforts with other UN entities. The majority of people who engaged through UNV channels are young (60% aged 16 to 30 years old) and live in low or medium HDI countries (92%); their top priorities are “a good education”, “better job opportunities”, “better health care” and “an honest and responsive government”.

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the survey. They reached out to remote communities in India, vulnerable groups and marginalized people such as for example internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps in Haiti or hearingimpaired youth in Rwanda, and youth in Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, DRC, Kazakhstan, the Philippines, Sudan, to name but a few countries, so that their views could be part of the wider post-2015 consultations through MY World. The approach that most UN Volunteers followed was to engage local volunteers/volunteer groups, train them on the survey roll-out and mobilize them to disseminate ballot papers and collect votes. They creatively sought and received support from fellow volunteers both online and onsite to translate the paper ballots, to reach out to as many people as possible, and to communicate with local communities. Online volunteers were engaged through UNV’s Online Volunteering service to translate ballots and related information into the local language as well as for data input and analysis. The organization of MY World voting sessions was also a means of establishing contacts and partnerships with local volunteer groups and CSOs. The roll-out of the survey was often combined with substantive conversations on volunteerism as a form of civic engagement and participation that allows addressing development challenges through concrete action. Going far beyond the plain implementation of the survey, volunteers engaged people directly and through other partners to vote for their development priorities and consider collective action they can take to address the shortcomings they face. The contribution of post-2015 volunteers also allowed extending the partners’ network of the UNV Field Units. The engagement of the post-2015 volunteers with the MY World survey roll-out at the country level led to an impressive and inclusive outreach. At the global level, it has led to positioning UNV as a key partner of the UN Millennium Campaign. It also allowed UNV to broker partnerships with new stakeholders and bring them into the discussion on the post-2015 development agenda. Several post2015 UN Volunteers also shared their experiences in the MY World blog.

Fostering stakeholder and youth engagement In 2013, post-2015 volunteers engaged stakeholders through the first round of UNDG national consultations, MY World and other opportunities. They supported stakeholder participation in the consultations, with a focus on youth, and facilitated the integration of volunteerism into national reports, including as a means for youth to participate in development. Many of them also facilitated additional opportunities for stakeholders, particularly VIOs, to leverage their voices to articulate how volunteerism specifically relates to the post-2015 agenda or to strengthen a particular perspective, such as that of youth. This the case, for example, of Bangladesh, Turkey and Kazakhstan, where separate youth consultations were organized by the UNV Field Unit after the national UNDG-led

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consultations, and resulted in a Call for Action from youth to their Governments. In Tanzania, the dedicated national volunteer together with the UNV Field Unit organized a stakeholder meeting to discuss the contribution of volunteering to the achievement of development objectives in the country as part of the overall national post-2015 consultations. As a result, the key recommendations of the meeting were integrated into Tanzaniaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s post-2015 final report. In Sri Lanka, the UN Youth Volunteers and the national UN Volunteer, together with the UNV Field Unit and with support from UNV Headquarters, engaged national and international VIOs in the preparation for the World Youth Conference 2014, strengthening the recognition of youth volunteerism and its relevance for the post2015 development agenda in the Conference, including in the Conference outcome document. At the end of 2013, distinctive contributions of post-2015 UN Volunteers in terms of stakeholder engagement include an increased participation of VIOs in policy-making, strategic planning involving civil society and building up a variety of networks. Through coordination among governments, the UN and civil society, targeted advocacy has been developed. Post-2015 UN Volunteers prepared or helped prepare tools that facilitated the engagement of stakeholders, in particular youth volunteer organizations. Furthermore, they committed to translating the developed material into local languages by mobilizing online and local volunteers. As a result of the deep engagement of post-2015 UN Volunteers in bringing together different stakeholders, the visibility and credibility of UNV rose significantly in the regions where they were present, facilitating the establishment of new partnerships. Governments, academia, civil society organizations and different UN agencies jointly developed a range of initiatives. One of the key outcomes in supporting national consultations was positioning and highlighting the concept of volunteerism and VIOs in the national post-2015 discussions.

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STORIES FROM THE FIELD “A special effort was made to reach out to the poor, the marginalized and others whose voices are not usually heard. Modern communications technology, the mobilization of UN agencies and the exceptional enthusiasm of countless volunteers made this unique endeavor possible.” Source: ‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013. p.6

Haiti: Including marginalized people in discussing development In a country that still bears the scars of the 2010 earthquake, post-2015 volunteers Benjamin Frowein, from Germany, and Jonasson David, from Haiti, teamed up to advocate for volunteerism for development. They partnered with Haitian VIOs to reach out to rural areas and to marginalized people, such as internally displaced persons (IDPs) still living in camps and people at risk of HIV/AIDS, to engage them and collect their views on development through the MY World survey. Through this and other activities, they established new partnerships with civil society in the youth sector, which facilitated joint action with partner VIOs on putting forward a pledge on youth engagement in Haiti. Under the leadership of a key partner, the French NGO platform France Volontaires, they were planning to re-launch a pledge for a law on volunteering. In the absence of national post-2015 consultations, UNV Haiti organized a workshop with the Haitian Volunteer Coalition (COHAIV), a network of about 100 VIOs, to discuss the post-2015 development agenda and MY World. Finally, they contributed to the Haiti MDG progress report (the first since 2004, to be published in 2014) with examples of volunteering good practices for each of the MDGs, and a dedicated post-2015 chapter, which will feature MY World results from Haiti. In 2014, thanks to Germany’s renewal of funding, Benjamin accepted to volunteer for a second year and, in addition, to take on the responsibility of acting as a mentor for the new batch of UN Youth Volunteers on issues related to MY World roll-out. Together with the Haiti UNV Field Unit and in cooperation with the COHAIV, Benjamin and Jonasson organized two major MY World voting sessions in 2013, one in several IDP camps in Port-au-Prince and another throughout the country on the Caribbean HIV Testing Day, in which approximately 2,700 people voted.

UN Volunteers, COHAIV volunteers and IOM’s camp community mobilizers went out to meet IDPs, asking them a very simple question: What are “your” priorities? (Photo: UNV/ Benjamin Frowein, 2013)

The first major obstacle to address was how to communicate. Jonasson took the initiative to translate the ballot into Haitian Creole. Nevertheless, the global development agenda is a rather difficult and abstract topic to convey in a context where the majority of the population cannot read or write.

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14 | The offline roll-out allowed discussing the issues in the ballot face-to-face, listening to peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s grievances and ideas. In spite of the difficulties, in a single day of action more than 900 ballots were collected among five departments (West, Artibonite, North, South East and Nippes). From the lady selling bananas by the side of the street to the primary school pupil, to the security guard that approached the stand to get tested, many were curious and determined to give their opinion. Through this coordinated effort, volunteers collected 90 per cent of the votes from the whole country, showing their ability to actively involve people at the community level to address their own development challenges. During the MY World Global Week of Action in May 2014, Benjamin and Jonasson conducted interviews with high school students (15+ years old) to raise awareness about MDGs and post-2015, engaging them in a reflection on their Haiti in 2030. Benjamin and Jonasson also learnt from this experience and are planning to address the challenge of consulting Haitians by proposing to develop a lowThrough a low-tech mobile application, a larger part of the Haitian tech mobile application, allowing people to vote from population would be able to participate in MY World or other surveys. any kind of mobile phone, by SMS or by Interactive (Photo: UNV/ Benjamin Frowein, 2013) Voice Response.

Rwanda: Ensuring youth participation for inclusive national consultations In cooperation with 22 other African countries, the One UN in Rwanda held consultations to formulate a nationally-owned post-2015 development agenda. UN Youth Volunteer Aylin Schulz van Endert, from Germany, took the lead in incorporating the voices of youth, including a group of hearing-impaired young people, exploring the role of volunteerism in the process. Young people under the age of 30 make up nearly 65% of Rwandaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s population and are the most likely to volunteer. She ensured that youth were one of the four focus groups of the consultations, and coordinated and guided discussions with them. During the consultations with the focus groups, 400 youth were reached across the four provinces of Rwanda, and 40,000 ballots of the MY World survey were distributed in all 30 districts, giving a voice to digitally-disconnected youth. Together with her peers, Aylin produced a short film on the post-2015 youth consultations in Rwanda. She also supported a UNDP film crew aiming to capture how, for the first time in its history, the UN is opening up a global debate and reaching out to people who are directly impacted by poverty and injustice. UN Volunteers helped to identify film locations, and advised on potential interview partners. The video, featuring UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, was then released as a product of the UN Development Group (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZQ54G1SoH4&feature=youtu.be).

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Bangladesh: Involving youth in addressing development UN Youth Volunteer Merel Fuchs, from Germany, was placed in the UNV Bangladesh Field Unit. Together with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator (RC), she facilitated the UNDG-led national consultations for the post-2015 agenda. Initially with the RC Office and later in collaboration with local volunteers, she rolled out the MY World survey across the country with a focus on capturing the voices of youth, collecting over 4,200 votes from young people. Based on the priorities identified, she organized youth workshops on possibilities for concrete engagement to address these priorities. As a result, a report and Call for Action from Bangladeshi youth to their Government were produced. Together with UNV Bangladesh, Merel also proactively communicated her activities by contributing to the Bangladesh MDGs reports, managing to have articles published in a major newspaper, and writing for the MY World blog. In Bangladesh, 50% of the population is below 25 years of age. Merel strengthened the voice of young people and enabled them to participate in the post-2015 discussion by organizing youth consultations with three national youth-led organizations. All activities were conducted in partnership with local volunteer involving organizations, to build local capacity and to ensure liaison between action at national and global levels. The consultations, organized in Jessore, Chittagong and Dhaka, encouraged youth to be part of the global conversation and acknowledged their status as agents of change in their communities. Through these activities, Merel contributed to strengthening local networks and engaged youth in thinking and actively working on solutions for development issues that are vital for Bangladesh. As part of the UNV Bangladesh team, Merel also consulted young people through the MY World survey: they coordinated the process and acted as a focal point for all participating organizations and for volunteers. She mobilized and coordinated UN Online Volunteers as well as on-site volunteers from numerous local organizations. The UN Online Volunteers translated the ballot card and other texts into Bangla, entered the data gathered offline and analyzed the results, complementing the action of community volunteers on the ground who went door-to-door and school-to-school to talk to people about their development priorities. Online Volunteers from all continents applied to help enter the data. The translated Bangla version of the survey was distributed and collected by different UN entities and international and local NGOs. Numerous partners disseminated the survey through their networks, distributing a total of more than 9,000 ballots throughout the country and reaching out to many social, ethnic and religious groups, including the rural and urban poor.

Article in local newspaper commenting the results of the Bangladesh youth consultations (http://www.dhakatribune.com/longform/2014/jan/28/beyond-2015-how-youth-see-it)

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Bhutan: Promoting volunteerism in a different vision of development As the only UN Volunteer in Bhutan in 2013, Riikka Suhonen, from Finland, had a challenging but rewarding experience. She has been serving as the post-2015 National Coordinator/Local Engagement Officer in the Secretariat for the New Development Paradigm of Bhutan, an initiative that is part of the worldwide effort to define a post-2015 global development agenda. The New Development Paradigm (NDP) captures the holistic nature of development and well-being, taking inspiration from Bhutan's existing approach to development known as the Gross National Happiness Index. Riikka supported the Secretariat by compiling and editing the NDP report in the fall of 2013, and by organizing events such as ‘Imagine Change!’, a series of local discussion forums covering topics ranging from active citizenship to sustainable consumption. Riikka also carried out an evaluation of volunteerism in the country and raised awareness of both volunteerism and the post-2015 process. Currently, she is guiding student volunteers to collect people's opinions on development priorities by conducting the MY World global survey in their local communities. “Because there is little data on volunteerism in Bhutan, I initiated a small study that can provide recommendations for the future. It is great to see that volunteerism has already gained recognition in the country – also at the policy level, as voluntary work is one of the indicators in the Gross National Happiness Index. The challenge is to harmonize the traditional, spontaneous, self-help mechanisms still rooted in the Bhutanese way of life in the rural areas with the contemporary forms of volunteerism emerging in the urban areas. One of my interviewees said that the best way to counter the consumerist culture creeping into Bhutan is to strengthen values such as empathy, altruism and humility by volunteering for others.” Riikka Suhonen, International UN Volunteer in Bhutan

Turkey: Partnering with VIOs to position volunteerism in national policies Nil Mit and Melis Memişoğlu, National UN Volunteers, supported the national post-2015 consultations process and contributed to including the concept of volunteerism in the final report. As a follow-up, together with UNV Turkey and in cooperation with the Turkish Youth Services Centre (GSM), Melis helped organize a Conference to recognize volunteering as a life-long learning tool and to promote an enabling environment and infrastructure for youth volunteering. The Conference Declaration ‘Volunteering for the World We Want’ highlights the importance of volunteering in tackling the priority development issues identified during the post-2015 National Consultations in Turkey, and focuses on five areas where volunteering can make a significant contribution: social inequalities, education and youth employment, personal development, active citizen participation and local development. Each of the participating VIOs is now using this Declaration as an advocacy tool within their networks to call on different stakeholders to take action. The Conference, its Declaration and the way the Declaration is being used by VIOs at the national level provide a very good example of how UNV and VIOs can work together to advance the integration of volunteerism into national level policy discussions.

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Kazakhstan: Engaging youth in development Josefine Ulbrich, post-2015 UN Youth Volunteer from Germany, supported UNV Kazakhstan in strengthening the engagement of national stakeholders, including youth volunteer organizations and the Government. Through a variety of offline and online tools and in a number of events, she helped UNV raise awareness of the post-2015 process and involved youth to actively participate in it. She supported the national consultation process, ensuring that youth organizations and university students were included, and separately organized comprehensive youth consultations, whose results are published in a report and a Call for Action. She also built capacity and established ties with young representatives of rural organizations and initiative groups by partnering with a local NGO on ‘School for Volunteers’. In collaboration with them, she organized a training of 100 youth volunteers, representatives of rural youth organizations, on leadership, event organization, mobilization of volunteers and teambuilding, as well as on the MY World survey. Through the MY World survey, Josefine engaged local volunteer groups in advocating for civic engagement and established partnerships at the country level. Building on the momentum of the post-2015 national consultation process, which engaged more than 2,000 people, Josefine and her colleagues from UNV Kazakhstan promoted youth’s powerful role as an agent of change. They also mobilized young volunteers through a MY World outreach campaign, to ensure that the views of Kazakh people are reflected in the global conversation on post-2015 development. On International Youth Day 2013, UNV Kazakhstan promoted youth’s role as agents of change by engaging them in an open conversation about their priorities for post-2015 development in two public places in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, together with a local NGO and 16 young volunteers. Over 500 MY World votes were gathered in only a few hours, from voters with an average age of 34. A Call for Action was the result of comprehensive youth consultations, which included: a workshop, where 25 young representatives of volunteer organizations from 9 regions of Kazakhstan discussed their visions for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development; Skype interviews with young volunteers from NGOs who were not able to participate in the workshop; and a social media survey on priorities for post2015 with 246 young participants.

To allow an immediate visualization of priorities, respondents to the MY World Survey could place six colored stickers on the board for the issues they deemed most important for the post-2015 development agenda, in addition to filling out the MY World paper ballot (Photo: UNV Kazakhstan, 2013)

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India: Partnering with stakeholders to support youth volunteerism Amita Dahiya, national UN Volunteer, supported the consultations which addressed women's associations, civil society and youth organizations among other constituencies. As part of the UNV Field Unit team, she successfully engaged Indian NGOs and VIOs, including civil society and youth organizations, to contribute to the national consultations. In India, the post-2015 national consultations took place between September 2012 and February 2013, involving an estimated 15,000 people, 25% of whom were women, and thousands of organizations, with collective representative membership of 400 million from across the country. Over 100 youth organizations participated in the Youth constituency consultations organized in five regions across India. Their recommendations, featured in the national report, point at providing youth with more opportunities to participate and contribute to the social, political, economic development of India, and at developing youth-friendly policies and services for youth empowerment and well-being. UNV also positively engaged with the national government to promote an enabling environment for volunteerism in India. The processes of defining of the post-2015 development agenda and of the 12th Five-Year Plan of India (201217), in addition to the drafting of the National Youth Policy (2014), offered a very good opportunity in this sense. Together with the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYAS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNV organized a National Consultation on Youth Volunteerism that formulated inputs for a Plan of Action to implement the National Youth Policy 2014 and for the development of a National Youth Volunteer Programme for India. As a result, the recently released National Youth Policy 2014 states that “volunteerism as means to instil social values. Therefore, youth participation in development activities and community service – especially in marginalized areas – are to be encouraged”. Amita and her colleagues at UNV India also mobilized volunteer organizations that in turn engaged thousands of nationals to vote in the MY World survey. About 200 young volunteers joined the initiative and contributed approximately 2,300 hours to distribute and discuss the survey with people from the most remote communities. As of September 2013, more than 15,000 votes from 11 Indian states covering all the four regions had been collected, more than 11,000 of which were collected offline through paper ballots. UNV's partners at the grassroots level supported the offline survey reaching out to people from all walks of life, including youth, women, tribal, marginalized and poor people, so that their opinions could be taken into consideration. On 25 September 2013, in a side event to the UN Special Event on the MDGs in New York, the UNMC brought more than one million votes to the attention of the Secretary-General and Member States, to make sure that the voice of every single person is reflected when shaping the global development agenda. On this occasion, Richard Dictus, UNV Executive Coordinator, presented the MY World Volunteerism Award to the Peace Gong Kashmir Bureau, a children's newspaper run by dedicated volunteers in India and a UNV partner. Peace Gong volunteers collected several

| 19 hundred votes for the MY World survey from different regions and communities in India, often travelling extensively to remote areas, and reaching out to many people, including marginalized and poor households, tribal communities, inhabitants of slum areas, and youth. In a different side event, Amita delivered a presentation on how she mobilized Indian volunteers to support the MY World rollout. Her presence and experience are an example of how local action connects with global initiatives and underline the UNâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s brokering role in this regard.

Sudan: Partnering for youth In a country comprising many different ethnic groups, languages, religions, tribal and political affiliations, national UN Volunteer Samah Fageer successfully addressed the challenges this entailed. She played a catalyzing role in involving youth from different universities in all UNV Sudan community-based volunteering activities as well as in post-2015 discussions. Samah also fostered the role of UNV Sudan as the main interlocutor with youth by building relations with local and global NGOs, government and other partners, with a focus on youth. The recognition by the UN Millennium Campaign of the UNV Field Unitsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; active involvement led UNV Sudan to become the UN focal point for the MY World roll out in Sudan.

UNV took the lead in organizing small-scale activities with youth and civil society promoting the MY World survey, in collaboration with the UN Information Centre and national partners such as universities and youth nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs). Sudanese celebrities were involved with testimonials in videos and TV spots for MY World, produced by UNV with support from the Resident Coordinatorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s office and UNDP. Successful MY World campaigns took place at Universities in Khartoum and Darfur, engaging students and faculty and contributing hundreds of votes. UNV also generated interest and wider engagement in the post2015 debate through a workshop involving 100 young people. Youth were empowered and increased their knowledge on the priority development issues of MY World. Two train-the-trainers workshops taught youth how to conduct a MY World campaign. Six groups of 60 volunteers in total were trained, and each trained group in turn conducted awareness campaigns, increasing engagement among youth on MY World and the post-2015 national consultations. UNV collected directly 70% of MY World votes in Sudan. Young people under the age of 30, directly or indirectly engaged through UNV, were the majority of MY World voters in Sudan.

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Cambodia: Opening the conversation Peter Prix, German UN Youth Volunteer in Cambodia, was assigned to the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator. Like four of his colleagues, his contract was extended for a second year. In his first year of assignment, he was deeply engaged in the roll-out of the Cambodia post-2015 national consultation. In his role as post-2015 rapporteur, he organized and facilitated consultations, drafted the final national consultation report, and led the dissemination of consultation findings at the national level to the UN Country Team (UNCT) and the Royal Government of Cambodia. His contribution was particularly relevant in enabling the participation of groups that usually do not have a seat at the negotiation table in the post-2015 dialogue in the country. As the UN focal point for the post-2015 consultation process in Cambodia, he regularly reported on and updated the UNCT about the post-2015 process at national, regional and global levels. Due to the positive feedback on Cambodia’s first round of post-2015 consultations from the UN Development Group and Post-2015 Secretariat, Cambodia offered to continue the post-2015 dialogue within a second round of consultations in 2014 that address the means of implementation of the future development agenda. In his second year, Peter is building on his valuable experience to engage people living in Cambodia to participate in the national and global post-2015 dialogue, ensuring that consultations are truly inclusive and meaningful. In addition to his nomination as focal point for the Cambodia post-2015 national dialogue, which focuses on Partnerships with Civil Society, Peter has taken responsibility to act as mentor for new post-2015 volunteers involved in national post-2015 dialogues in other countries.

Sri Lanka: Positioning youth volunteerism The collaboration between UNV at Headquarters and in the Field Unit in Sri Lanka provides a particularly significant example of how advocating for volunteerism can enhance national and global policy discussions and strengthen UNV's positioning as a significant actor in the area of youth volunteering. Thanks to the engagement in the context of a new development framework, UNV Sri Lanka positioned itself with regard to “youth” and “post-2015” within and beyond the UN in Sri Lanka, increased its engagement with a wide range of volunteer involving organizations and created closer links with government counterparts. In Sri Lanka, the UNV Field Unit was deeply involved in the preparation of the 2014 World Conference on Youth (WCY) in May 2014, in close collaboration with UN entities and the government at local level, and with staff at UNV Headquarters. UNV Sri Lanka’s ultimate goal was to establish and strengthen a base of evidence on the contribution of youth volunteering towards peace and development in the country, and to provide key recommendations on opportunities to integrate youth volunteering in the post-2015 development agenda. In this context, and with ongoing liaison, support and coordination of UNV HQ by the South Asia Portfolio Manager and the Policy Specialist for Volunteerism and Civil Society, the post-2015 project supported a research study on youth volunteerism in Sri Lanka including support for the recruitment of a Service Provider and a national UN Volunteer. In 2013-14, Min Suk Park, a UN Youth Volunteer from Korea, and Mohamed Husni, the national UN Volunteer, were assigned to UNV Sri Lanka. Together with other colleagues in the UNV Field Unit they supported the organization of a multi-stakeholder workshop, research activities and the service

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provider in preparing the final report. In 2014, a second post-2015 Youth Volunteer, Verena Zehe, was recruited as part of UNV's second batch of German post-2015 volunteers and assigned to UNV Sri Lanka in time to support the World Conference on Youth. Demonstrating the value of Youth Volunteerism Previous UNV collaboration at country level with UNDP led to UNDP’s decision to focus the National Human Development Report (NHDR) 2014 for Sri Lanka on youth, featuring youth volunteering as a topic; and to UNV’s decision to undertake research on youth volunteering for development and peace in Sri Lanka. UNV’s research and documenting report were funded by the UNV post-2015 project as well as POEM funds, covering for (1) a project manager for the research and its publication; (2) a researcher to design and undertake the research on youth volunteering in Sri Lanka; and (3) the design, organization and holding of a V-methodology stakeholder workshop to establish an evidence base on the distinctive contributions of youth volunteering for peace and development in Sri Lanka. The UN Youth Volunteer ensured smooth communication and follow-up between UNV and its counterparts in UN and other agencies in the country working with and for youth. The National UN Volunteer, in parallel, coordinated the collaboration with local stakeholders from the governmental and non-governmental sectors, as well as the dialogue between the lead researcher for the UNV Sri Lanka Youth Report and the UNDP project manager for the NHDR. The Government of Sri Lanka, through its Ministry of Youth Affairs and Skills Development, also welcomed the publication of a youth volunteering research in view of the World Conference on Youth, and pledged to ensure translation and printing of the report in the two Sri Lankan national languages. The UNV report “Sri Lankan Youth: volunteering to make a difference” was launched at the World Conference on Youth in the presence of the UNSG’s Envoy on Youth and the Sri Lankan Minister for Youth Affairs and Skills Development. It documents the research and presents conclusions and recommendations to promote volunteerism in the country, with specific regard to youth volunteerism as part of the post-2015 development agenda. The report benefitted from a vibrant national steering committee on volunteerism (NSC-V), and the Volunteer Force (V-force). The V-force stemmed from an initiative started in 2011 during the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) in support of the many activities undertaken. The original group of about one dozen young volunteers from IYV+10 has grown to over 2,200 individuals wanting to volunteer on a part-time basis with the UN in Sri Lanka. Support to the World Conference on Youth 2014 During the preparation and throughout the World Conference on Youth, UNV Sri Lanka successfully advocated for volunteering in the post-2015 development agenda. As part of the overall support, the youth team and post-2015 team at UNV Headquarters, contributed to substantive discussions before and during the Conference, engaging national and international VIOs and substantively supporting the Sri Lankan government in preparation of the Conference. Financial support was also allocated to the WCY through UNV’s Global Youth Programme. As a result, the recognition of youth volunteerism and its relevance for the post-2015 development agenda was strengthened, including in the Conference Outcome Document.

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Côte d’Ivoire: Reaching out to youth In Côte d’Ivoire, UN Youth Volunteer Tharaka Sriram, from Germany, co-organized and actively participated in activities with and for local youth volunteer groups, such as a workshop on networking as an exchange platform for Youth Volunteer Organizations and a capacity-building training of Volunteer Associations` Youth Representatives to guarantee a long-term impact of youth volunteering for development and peace at national level, and to ensure institutional bonds with key Youth Associations (organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth, the UNV Field Unit and UNDP). She was one of the facilitators of the International Youth and Students Economic Forum in Lagos, Nigeria, with two Ivorian Volunteer Youth Leaders. Tharaka conducted activities with youth organizations on multiple occasions, such as International Volunteer Day and other international days, generating awareness and debate among youth. She represented UNV in awareness-raising activities, increasing efforts to engage with various youth groups, such as students and marginalized youth. She also coordinated and certified volunteer-involving and youth organizations to roll-out MY World in the country, enabling them to reach out to people at the grassroots level. This effective partnering resulted in reaching out to thousands of young people in different areas of the country, and in the collection of 83 per cent (6,000) of the total ballots for Côte d’Ivoire in 2013. With the UNV Field Unit, Tharaka supported the post-2015 National Consultations and ensured the presence of a Youth Consultant to effectively articulate the significance of youth participation and Volunteering for MDGs, Post-2015 and Rio+20 in the Ivorian context, which was eventually consolidated in a report. “There is a need to engage people, more specifically youth in the formulation of the development agenda, which in many ways can tie into a desire for increased volunteerism that can empower youth, transform the often passive relationship between citizen and state in addressing development challenges, and provide work skills” Source: ‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013. P.35

“Young people should play a central role in the formulation of the development agenda. People need to be more actively involved in the process of decision-making for the country.”

- One of the responses voiced during Post-2015 national consultations in Kyrgyzstan. Source: ‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013

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Guatemala: Partnering with students Lea Ritter, UN Youth Volunteer from Germany, was assigned to the UNV Field Unit, with whom she supported the Guatemala post-2015 national consultations. In particular, Lea co-organized the consultations with youth and successfully integrated issues related to youth volunteerism and youth engagement in discussions on MDGs and the post-2015 agenda. She summarized the views expressed by youth and ensured that they were reflected in the final report of the national consultations of Guatemala, that she contributed to drafting. She also developed a booklet on the ‘Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio y voluntariado in Guatemala’ (‘MDGs and volunteering in Guatemala’). Throughout her assignment, Lea disseminated information on good practices, volunteer stories and audio visual materials on the contribution of youth volunteering to the achievement of the MDGs and of other development objectives. She was involved in the editing of a national documentary, in cooperation with a local University, and in an original video project on ‘Youth volunteering for post-2015’, together with four other UN Youth Volunteers based in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal, Peru and the Philippines. Lea is among the five German volunteers whose assignment was extended for a second year. In 2014, she is assigned to the RC Office and is supporting the Guatemala post-2015 national dialogue on Participatory Monitoring and Accountability. Like her fellows serving for a second year, she has taken responsibility to act as mentor for the new group of post-2015 volunteers who started in 2014. Lea collaborated with Universities and VIOs that sustainably change their community thanks to their volunteers. University students from the field of communications and audiovisual media offered their equipment, knowledge and time to UNV Guatemala to produce the ‘Jóvenes en acción’ (Youth in action), a documentary presenting volunteer initiatives in Guatemala. With testimonials from local volunteers, UN volunteers and beneficiaries, the documentary showcases the initiatives undertaken and their importance in the country context, including the relevance of debating the topics of the post-2015 Lea with students from the Universidad Mesoamericana and children development agenda among youth. from a local community during the shooting of the documentary “Jovenes en accion” (Photo: UNV Guatemala, 2013)

The message from students involved with the project is clear: anyone can volunteer with what they have, sharing their knowledge and abilities for a common goal. "Young people want to be proactive, be part of change, their views, ideas and needs must be taken into due consideration. Youth is joining organizations promoting civil participation and volunteerism” and they claim "more opportunities for citizens ‘participation and voluntary work”. Guatemala National Consultation Report, p.12

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LESSONS LEARNT FROM THE POST-2015 VOLUNTEERS Serving for one year abroad is a challenging experience for UN Youth Volunteers. While they all come with an amazing background and wealth of experience despite their young age, they are confronted with multiple challenges in terms of the cultural and professional setting. National UN Volunteers remain â&#x20AC;&#x153;at homeâ&#x20AC;? but are also asked to find their way at the interface between the UN system and local civil society engagement. Where both experiences come together, the volunteers can draw huge benefit from their respective strengths combining the local cultural and linguistic expertise with a fresh external perspective. The German-Creole tandem in Haiti, as well as the Korean-Sri Lankan, provide great examples in this regard. However, one year passes fast and adaptation takes time; in fact, many volunteers felt that they left the project just when they were fully operational and full of ideas for the way forward. Being a volunteer is also challenging at the level of personal positioning. Volunteerism is a great concept and the entire assignment of the volunteers aims at underlining its value and strengthening its integration in policies and strategies. At the same time, being young and being a volunteer in a world governed by hierarchy of age and function, requires an extra effort to demonstrate the validity of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s positions and ideas. All volunteers have excelled in transmitting an outstanding example of what volunteerism stands for through their very assignment. The post-2015 UN Volunteers, both national and international, were and are the first advocates for volunteerism through their concrete and daily action in the field. All of the international post-2015 UN Volunteers who completed their assignments in 2014 reported that being part of the UNV post-2015 project contributed significantly to their personal growth. They mentioned having benefited from the experience not only through overall professional development and the acquisition of new skills and competencies, but also from enrichment at the personal level. They were confronted with different cultural, political and economic scenarios and had to learn to adapt in order to provide the best performance in the given conditions. Being responsible for a project was professionally challenging, and helped to reveal personal strengths. Finally, being a UN Youth Volunteer can also be a strategic advantage, as it naturally helps connecting to the everyday reality of young people in any given society. Youth volunteers, particularly young women, can act as role models, bringing fresh ideas and new approaches. UN Volunteers send a strong message: that change is possible on the basis of a strong commitment and collective action, regardless of financial means and level of expertise.

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THE POST-2015 VOLUNTEERS National UN Volunteers - 2013

UN Youth Volunteers - 2013 Name Katharina Meyer-Seipp Merel Fuchs Anika Schachtschneider Peter Prix Tharaka Sriram Lena Priesemann Lea Ritter Servat Benjamin Frowein Tarek Muendelein Josefine Ulbrich Jasmin Reitzig Verena Osieck Stefanie Ladewig Aylin Schulz van Endert Min Suk Park

From Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Korea

Serving in Algeria Bangladesh Bosnia Herzegovina Cambodia Côte d'Ivoire Ecuador Guatemala Haiti Jordan Kazakhstan Nepal Peru Philippines Rwanda Sri Lanka

International UN Volunteers - 2013 Riikka Suhonen

Finland

Bhutan

UN Youth Volunteers - 2014 Peter Prix Lea Ritter Servat Benjamin Frowein Tarek Muendelein Katharina Meyer-Seipp Noreen Seyerl Anne Dalitz Paula Charlotte Hogrebe Dinah Abd El Aziz Sophie Tentrop Verena Zehe Jana Nagnitschenko Michelle Elsaesser Michael Dohr Jemila Kehinde

Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany Germany

Cambodia Guatemala Haiti Jordan Algeria Bangladesh Kenya Cameroon Indonesia Uganda Sri Lanka Kyrgyzstan Brazil India Peru

Name Henri-Gauthier Fene Fene Eudoxie Zaongo Jonasson David Marisol Calix Amita Dahiya Ika Rini Indrawati Noor Fithriya Sani Yahaya Salma Soliman Samah Fageer Teodozia Fernandes Remal Salima Noha Tarek ElSayed Nguyen Hien Doan Huu Phuong Khue Flavio Lopes Ribeiro Ticiana Nascimento Egg Melis Memişoğlu Nil Mit Veronica Kaitano Anna Kilala Ana Paula Santos Taonga M’Shanga Mohammed Husni

Serving in DRC Burkina Faso Haiti Honduras India Indonesia Indonesia Niger Sudan Sudan Timor-Leste Algeria Egypt Viet Nam Viet Nam Brazil Brazil Turkey Turkey Malawi Tanzania Mozambique Zambia Sri Lanka

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KEY OUTCOMES Overall, the post-2015 UN Volunteers added legitimacy and credibility to the work of UNV: in terms of advancing the integration of the concept of volunteerism into the discussions with stakeholders and policy-makers at the national level, as well as in terms of supporting the UN system-wide efforts to define a new development framework for the coming decade. Post-2015 UN Volunteers benefitted from being part of a global project, with a common core and framework of tasks and from dedicated support from UNV Headquarters. These greatly enhanced internal peer support and networking. The provision of limited financial support (up to 5,000 USD) to Field Units with a post-2015 volunteer proved to be crucial in stimulating ideas and enhancing Field Units’ delivery capacity. The mix of national and international volunteers in the group demonstrated to be an additional factor for the success of their assignment. In particular: •

They made a significant contribution to UNV Field Units in facilitating and stimulating the UNDG multi-stakeholder country post-2015 consultations, working towards making them inclusive and incorporating recommendations from VIOs into national reports. Their support contributed to the numerous mentions of the importance of volunteerism in the final national reports of several countries, some of which are featured in the UNDG report of the post-2015 consultations3. They also contributed to the review of MDG-related activities. Examples include: Algeria, Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cote d’Ivoire, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Tanzania, Turkey, Rwanda, Zambia

•

They supported the MY World survey both directly and through the mobilization of CSOs, collecting tens of thousands of votes, making UNV a strategic partner of the UN Millennium Campaign and leveraging the voices of marginalized people who would otherwise not have had a chance to make their voice heard at the UN. They used the organization of voting sessions also as a means of establishing contacts and partnerships with local volunteer groups and CSOs, and to stimulate people’s engagement. Examples include: Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Haiti, India, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Philippines, Rwanda, Viet Nam

•

They engaged a variety of stakeholders, such as CSOs, governments, UN entities and private sector actors, building networks or expanding the network of partners at the Field Unit level, and increasing the participation of VIOs in policy-making and strategic planning. This allowed

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furthering the recognition and integration of volunteering as a way of engaging people in development at the local and national level, thus enhancing development gains. Examples include: Algeria, Bhutan, Cambodia, Turkey, Zambia •

Together with Field Units, they promoted the inclusion of young voices as an input to the new development framework, and their more active participation as agents of change, by facilitating civil society and volunteering organizations’ participation in the national discussions on development and the post-2015 agenda. In Bangladesh and Kazakhstan, for example, building on the outcomes of the national UNDG-led consultations, post-2015 UN volunteers and UNV Field Units organized separate youth consultations, which resulted in a Call for Action from youth to their Governments. In Sri Lanka, the results of the V-methodology workshop and of the research undertaken to highlight the value of youth volunteerism in a post-2015 context informed the World Youth Conference held in May 2014. Examples include: Bangladesh, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, Kazakhstan, India, Jordan, Rwanda, Sudan, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Viet Nam

•

They showcased the contribution of volunteers to development and promoted volunteerism through video documentaries. In additional to individual national initiatives, five Field Units pooled funds to develop a joint video on the contribution of volunteerism to development in these countries and to underline the relevance of integrating the concept in the post-2015 agenda. Examples include: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda

Last but not least, all volunteers promoted volunteerism through their very example. They donated their passion and capacity, creating that overall added value that UN Volunteers and volunteers in general can bring. They conveyed a complex debate into people’s hearts and minds in such a way as to make it matter at a local and personal level. The successful implementation of the post-2015 agenda will require a transformative shift in terms of people’s attitudes, behaviors and life choices which cannot be dictated from above. Achieving this shift will greatly depend on the person-to-person advocacy of millions of ordinary citizens ready to change their own lifestyles and ready to inspire others along the way.

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THE WAY FORWARD Based on the positive experience, five of the UN Youth Volunteers recruited in 2013 were given the opportunity to extend their assignment for a second year. This has been a great asset for both the volunteers who can deepen their engagement and for the newcomers who benefit from a group of mentors, carrying over the experience of the first year. The new group of post-2015 UN Volunteers is engaged in the second round of dialogues led by UNDG and in the second phase of MY World, taking what has been achieved so far one step further and strengthening UNVâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s advocacy efforts for volunteerism. The five UN Youth Volunteers whose assignments were extended for a second year are also playing a mentoring role with the new group of post-2015 volunteers deployed in 2014.

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POST-2015 PRODUCTS FROM THE FIELD Directly developed by post-2015 volunteers and Field Units •

Video: Volunteering for post-2015 (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Guatemala, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, 2014) English: http://youtu.be/6Ee9A3g6eoE

•

Spanish: http://youtu.be/oUZyV7qjP1s

The world we want - Bangladeshi youth voices on a post-2015 world (2014) http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org/images/post2015/Field/BGD_Post-2015_Youth%20English%20final%20version_WEB.pdf

•

Report and Call for Action from Kazakhstan Youth Stakeholder Workshop (2014) http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org/images/post2015/Field/UNV_Kazakhstan_Youth_Stakeholder_Workshop_Call_for_Action_ ENG.pdf

•

Sri Lankan youth: volunteering to make a difference (2014) http://www.unvlk.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Sri-Lankan-Youth-Volunteering-to-Make-a-Difference-Report.pdf

•

Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio y voluntariado in Guatemala (2014)

•

Voices of Youth (Timor-Leste, 2014) http://www.tl.undp.org/content/dam/timorleste/docs/library/UNV/UNV%20e-book%2003-04-2014.pdf

•

Newspaper articles (Bhutan 2014, Bangladesh 2013)

•

Posts in MY World blog http://blog.myworld2015.org/tag/united-nations-volunteers-unvs/

•

Articles in UNDP national sites (e.g. Bhutan, Haiti, India, Sudan)

Contributed to by post-2015 volunteers •

Guatemala MDGs report (2014, in preparation)

•

Haiti MDGs report (2014)

•

Volunteering for the MDGs in Bangladesh (2013) http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org/images/post2015/Field/UNV_BGD_Volunteerism4MDGs2013_small.pdf

•

Conference Declaration “Volunteering for the World We Want” (Turkey, 2013) http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org/images/post2015/Field/Turkey%20Declaration_Volunteering%20for%20the%20World%20 Want.pdf

•

Happiness: Towards a New Development Paradigm – Report of the Kingdom of Bhutan (2013) http://www.newdevelopmentparadigm.bt/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/NDP_Report_Bhutan_2013.pdf

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â&#x20AC;˘

Mentions of volunteerism in international documents and in national reports of post-2015 consultations http://www.volunteeractioncounts.org/images/post2015/Downloadcenter/20140527_Mentions_V-concept_post-2015.pdf

â&#x20AC;˘

Reports of UNDG national consultations http://www.worldwewant2015.org/sitemap#national

“The consultations have revealed a huge appetite and demand for involvement not only in the design of the development agenda, but also in its future implementation. One million voices are a clear call that people, businesses and civil society organizations want to be engaged in creating development solutions while holding governments and the international community accountable for implementation. People from various walks of life are asking for transformation — not just of the ‘what’, but also ‘how’ we do development. They are asking not just for a one-off consultation, but an ongoing conversation and concrete opportunities for engagement. They want not only to articulate the problems, but to help find solutions and be involved in implementing them.” Source: ‘A million voices: The World We Want. A sustainable future with dignity for all’. Final report of national consultations. United Nations Development Group, 2013. P.6-7