From Somalia to Sierra Leone, East Timor to Kosovo, Cambodia to Haiti, volunteers have been at the forefront of the UN effort to support and rebuild damaged societies. Because of the valuable role of volunteers, UN Secretary Kofi Annan officially kicked off the International Year of Volunteers 2001 from UN Headquarters in New York on 28 November. International Volunteer Day designated as 5 December is being celebrated in dozens of ceremonies all around the globe. UN Volunteers Somalia branch has organized for the first time a local celebration of International Volunteer Day. Somali students at local schools in Hargeysa will plant trees, and the main festivities in the evening will feature performances of local youth and women groups.
Every country depends on volunteers.
They help educate children, keep the environment clean, and make communities safer places to live. They look after infants, the elderly and the sick. Now the challenge is to harness the enormous power and commitment of volunteers in the battle to eradicate poverty and craft a more inclusive globalization, says Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the UN Development Programme. At the Millennium Summit in New York last September, world leaders pledged to halve the proportion of people living in extreme poverty by 2005. That is not a goal that governments can simply legislate.