Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations Volunteers Programme and 20th Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers

A/RES/76/131No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 28Social development, published in 2022.

What subjects does this mandate have?

2 topics

Sustainable Development Voluntary Service

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2024.

2024A/79/376Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

17 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the report of the Secretary-General on volunteering for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims for all human beings to fulfil their potential in dignity and equality and in a healthy environment and notes the progress made by stakeholders under the plan of action to integrate volunteering into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Recalls the importance of integrating volunteerism, as appropriate, into the planning for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and encourages the United Nations system, civil society and the private sector, in partnership with Member States, to support such efforts and promote a conducive environment for volunteerism and volunteers to enhance the sustainability of development results;

Recognizes the critical contributions of volunteers in this regard, and commends the contributions from national and international volunteers for their indispensable interaction with local populations in disaster risk reduction and recovery, most recently evidenced by their performance in the aftermath of natural disasters, including those aggravated by climate change in many parts of the world;

Commends the increasing link between volunteerism and sport, which, through the invaluable contributions of national and international volunteers to the preparation and delivery of major sports events, inter alia, the Olympic and Paralympic Games, contributes to the promotion of the ideal of peace and inclusive society;

Also commends the measurement of the scale and scope of volunteering on a national level and the integration of volunteerism into national youth policies and strategies, disaster preparedness and response strategies, as well as national development plans, and encourages Governments, in partnership with United Nations entities, volunteer-involving organizations, the private sector, civil society, including academia, and other stakeholders, as appropriate, to integrate volunteerism into national development strategies, plans and policies, United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks or equivalent planning frameworks;

Encourages Member States to support volunteer action for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, including the integration of volunteerism into sector priorities and national development strategies, plans and policies, and to invest in volunteers and volunteering as part of national capacities to promote inclusion, strengthen participation and foster innovation and to strengthen evidence on the quality of participation through volunteering under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, together with other stakeholders;

Encourages the meaningful participation and integration of all people, including youth, older persons, women, migrants, refugees, persons with disabilities, minorities and other marginalized groups, into volunteer-involving programmes and projects, with the provision of the appropriate means to leverage the full potential of volunteerism;

Commends the Member States that highlighted the contributions of volunteering to the Sustainable Development Goals in their voluntary national reviews for the high-level political forum on sustainable development held in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021, and encourages all Member States to increasingly cooperate with volunteer-involving and civil society organizations, as well as the private sector, in supporting such efforts and promoting a conducive environment for volunteerism and volunteers to enhance the sustainability of development results, to include information on the scale, contribution and impact of volunteerism in future voluntary national reviews and engage volunteers for the monitoring of progress towards achieving the Goals at the national and subnational levels and as part of wider people’s engagement;

Encourages all Member States to invest in measuring the scale and contribution of people’s voluntary efforts, in line with the nineteenth International Conference of Labour Statisticians standard on volunteer work and the International Labour Organization Volunteer Work Measurement Guide, and to collect and utilize high-quality data disaggregated by sex, age and disability to support and integrate volunteerism into national strategies and to measure its impact on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;

Requests United Nations entities, as well as United Nations country teams, to reflect the distinct contributions of volunteering in Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks and country programme documents, in line with resolution 75/233 on the quadrennial comprehensive review of operational activities for development of the United Nations system;

Recalls the call to action on “Volunteering in the decade of action”, welcomes the contribution of volunteers to the global efforts to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic, and emphasizes the key role of volunteers in responding to, rebuilding and recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as in the implementation of the health-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, inter alia, universal health coverage, recognizing that the COVID-19 pandemic has a disproportionately heavy impact on the poor and most vulnerable, with repercussions on health and development gains;

Requests Member States and the United Nations system to work together with volunteer-involving organizations, including from civil society, to support efforts to enhance the protection, security and well-being of volunteers, calls upon States to create and maintain, in law and in practice, a safe and enabling environment for volunteers, and encourages the adoption of good practices in the promotion, facilitation and, where applicable, management of volunteerism;

Recognizes the role of the United Nations Volunteers programme in supporting the integration of volunteerism into the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development by sharing relevant knowledge and experiences, and encourages Member States and other stakeholders to share their continued efforts to integrate volunteering into the 2030 Agenda through the global Knowledge Portal on Volunteerism hosted by the United Nations Volunteers programme, including policies, strategies, research and evidence and good practices on volunteering for the Sustainable Development Goals;

Also recognizes the Special Voluntary Fund for the United Nations Volunteers as the resource enabling the United Nations Volunteers programme to develop initiatives that embed the values of volunteerism in the work of Governments and the United Nations system, and encourages Member States in a position to do so to enhance their contributions to the Fund, thereby ensuring continuing activities;

Further recognizes the role of information and communications technologies in expanding innovative forms of volunteering, and encourages Governments, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders to support online volunteering, including United Nations online volunteering that provides inclusive technology-enabled global platforms;

Encourages Member States and development partners to continue to share knowledge and scale up ways to address barriers to volunteering for all, including persons in vulnerable situations;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its seventy-ninth session on the implementation of the present resolution, under the item entitled “Social development”.

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