The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the focal point for voluntary service in the United Nations system. UNV is administered by the UN Development Programme and pursues distinctive contributions to human development through better access to opportunities and services and improved services delivery, greater inclusion and participation, and the mobilization of communities.

Based in Bonn, Germany and established in 1970, UNV advocates the benefits of civic engagement and it integrates volunteerism into development planning. It also helps to mobilize volunteers in support of development objectives.

Every year, UNV mobilizes more than 7,500 volunteers for development projects and it operates OnlineVolunteering.org to connect development organizations with thousands of volunteers worldwide through the internet. Volunteers are skilled professionals with an average age of 37 and 5-10 years of working experience. They work in more than 140 countries and 70 percent come from developing countries.

Volunteers have worked as part of the UNHCR team and some of its partners in numerous operations, including Pakistan, Somalia, the Sudan, the Balkans, Timor-Leste and West Africa.

In December 2000, UNHCR's 50th anniversary year, former High Commissioner Sadako Ogata awarded UNV the Nansen Refugee Award in recognition of services to refugees.

For more information see: http://www.unvolunteers.org/