2018 UN Volunteers Report launched

Volunteerism can be a mechanism to truly leave no one behind.

These were the sentiments shared by the United Nations, Volunteer Executive Coordinator Olivier Adam while speaking at the Pacific Launch of the 2018 UN Volunteers Report.

Adam highlighted that if resilient communities are the fabric of resilient societies, volunteers are threads that binds communities battling the rising sea levels, population displacements, conflicts and inequalities.

Adam says that people can find many encouraging examples in Fiji and other Pacific Island nations such as Fiji Red Cross volunteers that reached 75,000 people during the 2014 dengue fever outbreak and more recently in 2016 following Cyclone Winston where volunteers were among the first to be mobilized and deployed to the affected parts across the country.

Adam also revealed from this year’s UN Volunteers Report that the effective collaboration with volunteers can transform volunteering from a coping mechanism to a strategic resource for community resilience over the long term.

Adam stressed that for this to happen, volunteering needs to be appropriately supported, whether through funding, training or policies adding that governments, NGO’s and private sector should work to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to volunteer.