Measuring the contibutions of volunteering to development.




 It is widely recognized that volunteers play a critical role in development. This chapter focuses on measuring volunteers’ contributions to economic growth, health and education as well as tackling inequality, especially gender inequality, which have been identified as key dimensions of development. Measuring volunteer contributions to other important development outcomes, including around climate and human rights, is covered elsewhere in this report. 


Indonesia. Credit: UNV 2023


The strategic importance of volunteers to sustainable development has been emphasized in global forums, and their roles in enhancing accountability, social cohesion and inclusivity, while supporting the Leave No One Behind agenda, have been highlighted. UNV country-level reports highlight the critical role of formal and informal volunteering in supporting national progress towards the SDGs. These analyses emphasize the urgent need for systematic and multidimensional data gathering to enable governments and organizations in both the Global North and Global South to understand the scale and nature of this contribution to improving societal outcomes.


Change and development is complex and non-linear and it is not always straightforward to evaluate the ways in which volunteering contributes. It is therefore essential that measurement approaches capture the contributions of diverse types of volunteers, including community-based volunteers, to understand the distinct impacts of volunteer efforts on key development outcomes. Examples from the Global South provide particularly innovative and effective illustrations of measurement in this context.



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