Egypt and the United Nations (UN) celebrated International Volunteer Day (IVD), which falls on December 5 every year to promote solidarity through volunteering.
This year’s celebration, themed ‘Together Let’s Work Now’, focused on contributions by volunteers to make positive change in their societies, especially with regard to climate action and sustainable development.
Social Solidarity Minister Nevine el-Qabbag, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt Elena Panova, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Egypt Alessandro Fracassetti and UN Volunteers (UNV) coordinator in Egypt Heba Nosseir attended the event.
Over a billion people volunteer their time, skills and experience to help improve their communities. From providing practical support to vulnerable children and adults to advising on sophisticated technical and legal issues, volunteers are present at all levels of society.
UNV Egypt honours the best national and UN Volunteers with a special award, which, this year, went to UN Volunteers in three categories: initiative, innovation and teamwork, in addition to a special award for the nine UN Volunteers mobilised for COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh last month.
In her address to the ceremony, the minister praised the role of volunteers in Egypt. “Around 600 volunteers had been selected to help organise COP27.
Egypt has 600,000 volunteers nationwide helping to improve their communities, families, schools and universities,” the minister added.
“They also help with implementing many national projects,” el-Qabbag said, underscoring the need for a systematic mechanism for volunteering and training.
UNV is an international observance mandated by the UN General Assembly in 1985.
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