The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. In 2007, the UNV programme partnered with 25 UN organizations, governments and civil society partners to deploy more than 7,500 UNV volunteers in 140 countries.

Besides directly administering and managing the UNV volunteers, UNV supports governments and organizations to strengthen and/or develop sustainable local infrastructure. It helps them to manage their own volunteering programmes towards the achievement of national development priorities, including peace and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

At the country level, UNV is typically integrated into UNDP and works through a Country Office Team (COT) which comprises a UNV Programme Officer (who is usually an international UNV volunteer) and a Country Operations Assistant. Where no COT exists, a UNV focal point is assigned in each UNDP Country Office to liaise with UNV headquarters on UNV operational and administrative matters.

Rapid deployment of experienced professionals with matching skills

The UNV programme maintains a roster of approximately 6,000 candidates with experience in a variety of development fields. The roster covers more than 160 professional categories including: project development, communications, administration, community development, demobilization & reintegration, disaster prevention, humanitarian and civil affairs, engineering, environment, HIV/AIDS, medicine, human rights, logistics, and election support.

UNV offers two types of volunteer modalities: international and national.

International UNV Volunteers

These UNV volunteers serve in countries other than their own. Apart from the areas of peace keeping, humanitarian assistance and UN-supported electoral processes, they are recruited considering their technical expertise and specialized inputs to development programmes, They come with an average age of 39 years, requisite professional skills, qualifications and five to 10 years experience. The duration of their assignments can be from six to 24 months. An international UNV volunteer can serve up to a maximum of eight years. Average processing time for international UNV volunteer recruitment is six to eight weeks.

National UNV Volunteers

They serve in their own country and support national capacity-building initiatives. They also facilitate local networking and exchange of information. The recruitment of national UNV volunteers is managed at the country level with guidance from UNV headquarters. The duration of each assignment ranges from three to 24 months. A national UNV volunteer can serve up to a maximum of four years. Average processing time for national UNV volunteer recruitment is four to six weeks.

Click here to request the latest UNV pro forma cost

Technical and joint programmatic support

UNV supports through jointly funded projects with UN, government and other partners innovative pilot activities that demonstrate the added value of volunteerism for development and peace initiatives. In addition, it responds to requests from governments to help them set up national volunteer infrastructures, such as youth volunteer schemes or volunteer corps. More information on joint project development or accessing technical support can be obtained from the COT or relevant Programme specialist at UNV HQ.

Fully-funded UNV volunteers for strategic posts

UNV has access to fully-funded UNV volunteers whose associated costs are financed by the government of the volunteer's country of origin. In the Philippines, the government of Japan and Spain support three UNV posts in the country.

"Eyes and ears" of the community

UNV volunteers bring in more to a project than human resources. They tend to take strength-based, people-centered approaches, largely because the vast majority of UNV volunteers have many years of experience at the grassroots levels prior to becoming UNV volunteers. They are generally well accepted by their government counterparts and members of the community, and have established fruitful relationships with them despite challenges. The UNV volunteers are found to use inclusive approaches by bringing in more people into development dialogues, especially those who are marginalized, reducing social exclusion.

Online forum to access other volunteers worldwide.

UNV’s Online Volunteering service connects development organisations and volunteersworldwide and supports their effective collaboration. Volunteers do not travel or meet face to face. Instead, online volunteers can apply for and complete assignments entirely over the internet. Note that online volunteers can apply for and complete assignments entirely over the internet. Note that online volunteers are not UNV Volunteers and the requirements differ. The service is entirely cost free.
For more information visit:http://www.onlinevolunteering.org

Multi-facetted support to UNV volunteers throughout assignment

UNV COT, in close collaboration with the Philippine National Volunteer Service Coordinating Agency (PNVSCA), assists international UNV volunteers to obtain the 47 (a) 2 visa. It takes approximately four to six weeks to process the visa.

We assist UNV volunteers in contributing towards achieving the goals and objectives of the UNV programme. The volunteers also contribute to achieve the MDGs and build local capacity in the countries of assignment. We provide them a unique opportunity to develop their own professional and personal skills as well as to reinforce their commitment to volunteerism.

UNV COT makes every effort to visit all UNV volunteers at least once a year to monitor progress and performance, address any personal and professional issues, and assist the volunteer to come up with a viable solution. In addition, UNV COT takes proactive approaches to build up the volunteer's profile and their assignments through websites, press releases, and other media activities.

The procedure for requesting a UNV volunteer is as follows:

1. The host organisation at the country level informs the UNV Country Office Team (or UNV focal point in UNDP if no COT is present,) and requests for support. It provides Description of Assignment (DOA) according to a standard format as well as confirmation of availability of funds for each UNV volunteer assignment.
2. Based on the DOA, UNV identifies candidates and submits them to the host organisation. For national UNV volunteer assignments, the COT or UNV focal point will carry out a competitive identification/recruitment process, frequently through local advertisement campaigns or a locally established roster of qualified candidates.
3. Interviews are conducted by both UNV and host organisations to determine the candidates' suitability. The host organisation communicates to the UNV HQ its selection by order of preference through the UNV Country Office Team or UNV focal point.
4. UNV then offers a UNV assignment to the pre-selected candidate, subject to acceptance of the Conditions of Service; a positive UNV interview; and medical clearance.

When selecting UNV volunteers, due regard is paid to gender balance and geographical
distribution in accordance with the principles and policies of the UN.

UNV volunteer DOA format (MS-Word / PDF)

Volunteer requesting organisations are expected to cover the costs of UNV volunteers that will be deployed in their programmes or projects. Most host organisations pay for the volunteers from their own resources (eg. programme/project funds, office administrative budgets). Where such resources are unavailable, UNV occasionally supports host organisations through the placement of fully funded UNV and other corporate or university volunteers. In these cases, the volunteer would be a national of donor country or a participant in the special volunteering initiatives. Annual requests for ToRs under the fully funded scheme or special volunteering initiatives are sent to country offices from UNV HQ through the COTs/ focal points.

UNV volunteers are not United Nations staff members and are not subject to the UN Staff Rules and Regulations or to the salaries, benefits and other conditions contained therein. They serve under contract with UNV and are governed by UNV Conditions of Service. Other applicable UNV Rules and Regulations, as well as UNV Rules of Conduct and host organisation Codes of Conduct, are equally binding.

For international UNV volunteers:

The Handbook of Conditions of Service for international UNV volunteers contains a set of general principles and specific guidelines that govern the conditions of service for international UNV volunteers and ensure that they are reasonable and fair. They also bring consistency in the administration of these conditions of service globally. These principles and guidelines reflect the volunteer nature of UNV assignments and establish their relation to the framework and context of work of the United Nations system.

For national UNV volunteers:

The Guidance Note in the use of national UNV volunteers includes a policy and programme framework and administrative tools on management of national UNV volunteers. In a country where a national UNV volunteer scheme does not exist, the host organisation cooperates with the COT/focal point and UNDP CO to establish a new national UNV volunteer scheme.