History of UNV Philippines
Since the Philippines first joined the UNV Programme in 1972, the country has consistently been one of the largest suppliers of volunteers. Last year Filipinos constituted the largest number of volunteers serving abroad, with a total of 301 Filipino UNV volunteers around the globe. Filipinos are notably found to have strong mobilization skills - a volunteer profile considered to be essential for effective and enduring development actions.
International UNV volunteers were first deployed to work in the Philippines in 1985. The majority of some 100 volunteers served as UNV Domestic Development Service (DDS) Field Workers. Hosted across every region of the Philippines, they primarily worked with local government units and NGOs in rural areas. Principally experienced in the fields of agriculture and appropriate technology, these Field Workers focused their skills in the promotion of self-reliance at the grassroots level.
The concept of solidarity is deeply rooted in the Philippine culture: they believe in the power of community, interrelation, social network and work together more than as individual. In this sense, volunteerism and Philippine philosophy go in hand in hand.
