PRESS BRIEFING BY UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME

The annual report of the United Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV) for the year 2000, Reaching Out, was launched today at a Headquarters press briefing by Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the UNV.

The Executive Coordinator also briefed correspondents on the commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of the UNV, which will be held Thursday, 21 June, at 3:00 p.m. in conference room 2 at Headquarters.  At that special event, representatives of country offices of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), resident coordinators and volunteers will take a look at programming in areas such as HIV/AIDS in Botswana, human rights work in Guatemala, information and communication technology work in Bhutan, and work in East Timor.

"I do not think we can mention UNV right now without mentioning East Timor, as it is the largest operation we have ever handled in the history of the Organization", Ms. Capeling-Alakija said.  "As we speak, there are around

900 volunteers from almost 100 countries who are working together to bring about the elections there in August and to help build a new independent nation".

Ms. Capeling-Alakija went on to inform correspondents that over the last

30 years, more than 30,000 individuals from around the world had served as volunteers in professional capacities in various United Nations programmes of development and peace.  In 1971, the year that UNV first become operational,

41 United Nations volunteers were deployed.  Ten years later there were about 1200.  A decade later, in 1991, volunteers numbered 2700.  Now in the year 2000, which would be reported on in the annual report, the programme had almost reached the 5000 mark in the number of its volunteers.

Noting that this was a very busy week for the Organization in the number of events taking place, Ms. Capeling-Alakija said that whether those events were a preparation for the special session on HIV/AIDS, an observance of World Refugee day, or issues to do with development, peace-building, reconciliation or elections, "you will find United Nations Volunteers very much involved". 

In any given year, continued Ms. Capeling-Alakija, volunteers were working in the programmes of some 20-30 organizations of the United Nations.

Ms. Capeling-Alakija said her favourite number in the annual report was 157.  In the year 2000, for the first time ever, there were volunteers serving in UNV from 157 countries.  That figure expressed so much that was extraordinary about her organization.  "We break out of the traditional idea that there are some countries which are donors and others which are recipients", she said.  Through the volunteer programme all countries were contributors through their people.  In addition, about 65 per cent of volunteers were recruited from developing countries.

"Of course our largest partner is still the UNDP where we work in their programmes and those of the Governments they support", Ms. Capeling-Alakija continued.  That was followed very closely by the work of the UNV with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) where "we had our largest operation

in the year 2000 in Kosovo".  During October, when elections took place in the province, over 700 volunteers had been involved.  There were also over

100 volunteers serving in Sierra Leone.  During 2000 there were over

600 volunteers in East Timor.  That number had now risen to almost 900.

Ms. Capeling-Alakija said the annual report detailed not only work by the UNV in peacekeeping/peace-building but also work in helping to create cities that were more people-friendly and with people living with HIV/AIDS.  Throughout the report the grassroots approach which had come to characterize the work of the UNV was illustrated.  "We do believe that we bring the human face of the United Nations to some of the poorest people in some of the most remote communities throughout the world", she said.    

The Executive Coordinator said the year 2000 also marked the beginning of a new and exciting initiative that was launched in the Secretary-General's Millennium report in April -- the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS).  There were now volunteers in that Service serving 15 countries and the figure was growing.  "This as an attempt to assist developing countries build the capacity to be able to apply information and communication technology (ICT) to meet their development needs.”    

Ms. Capeling-Alakija said a very new and innovative form of volunteering had also taken off during 2000 –- online volunteering.  “During the year we managed to register almost 3,000 people as volunteers online through www.netaid.org.  Today that number had risen to 5,800.”  It was a tremendous innovation because it meant that many people who would not normally be able to participate in international efforts because they could not leave home could still participate.

"Moreover, we are trying to encourage our own volunteers when they come home after their assignments with UNV to also go online and continue to support the communities with which they were working", Ms. Capeling-Alakija continued. Sustainability of volunteer efforts had always been an issue.  Thanks to the information technologies being developed there was now a greater chance of mobilizing more people in support of the United Nations development effort.

Concluding her statement, Ms. Capeling-Alakija said it was very auspicious for the UNV to celebrate its thirtieth anniversary in such a very important year.  One of the things her organization had been tasked to do by the Secretary-General during this year was to begin to get some grasp of the extent of the involvement of volunteers in the programmes of the United Nations.  "To that end we have been following up with all the organizations of the United Nations to try and get at least an initial sense of the participation of volunteers", she said

The bottom line so far was that it seemed that millions of people around the world were contributing billions of hours of service towards the United Nations, continued Ms. Capeling-Alakija.  "Why they are doing this is because the core values of volunteerism are closely linked to those espoused by the United Nations in its Charter.”

A correspondent asked whether there was any specific amount allocated for recruiting volunteers and how the UNV funded its operations.

Ms. Capeling-Alakija said another first for her organization in 2000 was pushing the value of the programme past the $100 million mark.  "We are not talking about small operation here", she said.  Most of that money, however, did not pass through UNV's books.  "Our administrative costs are around $14 million and that comes to us through the UNDP which administers us", she said.  They had a section in their budget called support to the United Nations system under which came the UNV.  "That covers costs such as salaries and basic administration of the organization", she said.

Ms. Capeling-Alakija said the cost of the volunteers was met in two or three different ways.  Primarily the client -- the organization or government -- which was involving the volunteer in their programme would pay the costs of that volunteer in the country.  "We also have a small special voluntary fund where we mobilize money from donors to assist us in building up our capacity to be able to experiment", she said. 

In addition, continued Ms. Capeling-Alakija, there were also some governments which would actually fully fund their own nations.  In their number, she cited the Governments of Italy, Spain and Belgium, which would actually cover the full cost of a volunteer from their countries.  "That enables us to deploy those people in a strategic way to some of the United Nations partners who may have an urgent need", she said.

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