The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.
Volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges, and it can transform the pace and nature of development. Volunteerism benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer by strengthening trust, solidarity and reciprocity among citizens, and by purposefully creating opportunities for participation.
UNV contributes to peace and development through a dual mandate: mobilizing UN Volunteers for the United Nations and advocating for recognition of volunteers as a way to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNV embraces volunteerism as universal and inclusive, and recognizes volunteerism in its diversity as well as the values that sustain it: free will, commitment, engagement and solidarity. In 2019 UNV deployed over 8,000 UN Volunteers to over 40 UN partners in all regions of the world.
Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is active in around 130 countries every year. UNV, with six regional offices and field units in many countries, is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and reports to the UNDP Executive Board.
