Engaging with UNV: UNV Full Funding Programme

(Daniele Volpe, 2012)

National UN Volunteer Hugo Bulux (left) engages participants in a joint municipal partnership to improve the situation of children, food security and nutrition in the town of Momostenango, Totonicapán, Guatemala.

Engaging with

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UNV UNV FULL FUNDING PROGRAMME The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. In 2014, UNV deployed 6,325 UN Volunteers to 121 countries to support the development and peace interventions of the United Nations (UN) and its partners. These UN Volunteers came from 155 countries, and 81 per cent were from countries of the South. Some 1,190 were under 29 years of age, and 452 were fully funded.

What is the UNV Full Funding Programme?

Through the Full Funding (FF) programme, UNV, funding partners and UN host agencies are addressing development challenges around the world while offering programme participants an opportunity to share knowledge and gain experience working in the UN system.

Fully funded UN Volunteer assignments are a unique means for countries to contribute the skills and experience of their citizens to UN entities. At the same time, the programme’s flexibility assures governments that volunteer placements will align with their geographic and development priorities.

The FF programme enables UNV to deliver concrete evidence-based development results to its partners. Under UNV’s Strategic Framework 2014–17, fully funded UN Volunteer assignments are central to UNV’s contribution to UN programmes in the areas of access to basic social services, community resilience for environment and disaster risk reduction, peacebuilding, youth, and national capacity development through volunteer schemes. Fully funded UN Volunteers play a strategic role in carrying out the work of the UN system, often as interlocutors between the United Nations, governments, civil society and the private sector.

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Funding partners to the FF programme can choose to mobilize skilled professional volunteers to contribute to UN entities, or to provide hands-on UN work experience to young people, including university students. While most FF partners use the programme to provide UN volunteering opportunities to their own citizens, some governments, such as Germany and Luxembourg, have expanded the concept by funding UN Volunteers from the global South, as well as national UN Volunteers from programme countries.

This helps bolster the spirit of South-South exchange through triangular cooperation agreements, a concept that UNV encourages its FF programme partners to explore.

A 2013 study of 415 UN Volunteer Specialists and UN Youth Volunteers found that 91 per cent felt their volunteer experience had increased their employability. Another 89 per cent said their social skills improved through their volunteer experience. Fifty-eight per cent believed that volunteering had been critical to securing a job. In another survey, nearly half the respondents were employed by the UN system within one year of finishing their assignment.

Seventy-seven per cent considered the UN Volunteer experience important for their career development and 82 per cent were interested in pursuing another assignment.

Fully funded UN Volunteers are currently deployed under two modalities: UN Volunteers and UN Youth Volunteers, which includes UN University Volunteers. UN Volunteers are usually professionals with at least two years of work experience; they are deployed from 12 months to up to four years. Volunteers under the UN Youth Volunteer modality are between 18 and 29 years old and usually serve for 12 months. UN Youth University Volunteers undertake shorter assignments, of usually three to six months. Participants in this programme are enrolled in a university programme.

The costs for assignments vary from country to country.

Current average costs are: US $60,000 per annum for an international UN Volunteer, US $46,000 per annum for an international UN Youth Volunteer; and US $21,000 for an international UN Youth University Volunteer for 6 months.

How does the UNV Full Funding programme work?

Since the adoption of its Strategic Framework 2014–2017, UNV has been increasingly and systematically adopting a programmatic approach to its FF programme. This means that fully funded UN Volunteers complete assignments in areas where the specific development and geographic priorities of UNV, the UN system, and the funding partner converge. Some fully funded assignments may also be linked to specific service lines that UNV has identified in line with the operational needs of its UN partners. The service lines include assignments in the areas of UN coordination, advocacy and communication, monitoring and evaluation, and support to UNV Field Units. UNV represents the main interlocutor for UN partners and donors alike.

UNV and UN partners jointly develop descriptions for fully funded UN Volunteer assignments based on UNV’s strategic priorities and on the funding partners’ thematic and geographic priorities. UNV then supports the UN Volunteers during their assignments and provides the funding partners with evidence-based reports. Increasingly, countries of the South are using the FF programme to place their nationals in development assignments within the UN system.

For enquiries about the UNV Full Funding Programme contact Oliver Wittershagen, Full Funding Programme Manager, oliver.wittershagen@unv.org.

To learn more about UNV, visit www.unv.org

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer.

UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming and mobilizing volunteers.

UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

For more information about UNV, please visit www.unv.org.