Recognition of the contributions of volunteers in intergovernmental dialogue

• The contributions of volunteers are recognized in United Nations resolutions and reports, including in A/Res/76/131 and the 2021 UN Secretary-General’s Report on Volunteering. These showcase the scale and depth of volunteer action for development. Resolutions on other issues, from South-South cooperation to Sports for Development, often refer to the critical roles played by volunteers. The Volunteer Groups Alliance has also been established to amplify the voices of volunteers in intergovernmental dialogue.
• Between 2016 and 2022, 52 per cent of VNRs (149 of the 288 reports submitted) acknowledged the contributions made by volunteers across the full spectrum of SDGs.                

Integration of volunteering in national SDG strategies and plans

• While recognition of volunteer efforts is increasing, research carried out under the Plan of Action to Integrate Volunteering for the 2030 Agenda found that:

• Less than one in five VNRs demonstrate the integration of volunteering into national strategies and plans

• While at least 140 countries now have laws, policies and schemes on volunteering, the majority are stand-alone initiatives rather than closely linked to development priorities.

• Volunteers are most active in awareness-raising, consultation and implementation of the SDGs and national priorities. As yet, there is little evidence that people’s ownership of the development agenda has increased or that they have been able to influence policies that are relevant to them.

Linkages to specific goals and targets

We know that volunteers make significant contributions to their economies and societies.  However, there are no specific goals or indicators on volunteer efforts in the 2030 Agenda and SDGs. There are a number of potential ways to demonstrate the contributions of volunteering:

• Exploring how the efforts of volunteers contribute to a specific target. For example, how volunteer-led awareness-raising and information campaigns contribute to higher immunization rates in a country, lowering the mortality rate for children under the age of five (Target 3.2).
• Examining how the wider ‘social goods’ produced through volunteering contribute to different goals. For example, volunteering can support greater trust and cohesion among communities, providing a foundation for a range of issues from resilient cities to climate action.
• Understanding how volunteering supports the principles of the 2030 Agenda including the universality of the agenda, leaving no one behind, and interconnectedness and indivisibility. For example, exploring how grassroots volunteer-led approaches can help ensure that our actions are rooted in the experiences of those groups furthest behind can help move away from siloed or sectoral approaches to development.