13 October 2003

Tirana: Representatives of the volunteer organizations Albanian Youth Council (AYC), Red Cross Albania (RCA), the Youth Communication Centre (OKC), and South East Europe Youth Network (SEEYN) Bosnia Herzegovina, explored voluntary management issues during a study tour organized by the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) in the United Kingdom.

The training, from 15 September through 3 October 2003, was coordinated as part of the partnership between the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO/ www.vso.org.uk). VSO, headquartered in the UK, is an international development charity that works through volunteers. VSO has supported the UN Volunteers current initiative " Building up regional integration and social cohesion in the Balkans", by selecting and training of volunteers to help implement future East-East voluntary exchanges.

The training, designed for volunteer professionals from around the world, created discussion groups which dealt with several different aspects of volunteer management issues such as recruitment, training, selection, placement and support to volunteers. Case studies presented participants an opportunity to learn about techniques and important steps to design and implement successful volunteer exchange programmes. Visits gave insight to volunteering organizations in the UK that serve a broad variety of volunteering needs.

Another objective of the training was to establish local training capacity in the volunteering management area specifically in Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. An improvement in volunteer orientation procedures was also debated with the hope to apply these in other regions of South-east Europe soon.

Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is the volunteer arm of the UN system supporting peace, relief and development initiatives in nearly 150 countries. Created by the UN General Assembly in 1970 and administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNV works through UNDP country offices and a network of international organizations to mobilize more than 5,000 UN Volunteers annually, 70 percent of whom come from developing nations. It also supports thousands of other individuals participating in the work of the United Nations for development as online volunteers. The United Nations General Assembly has designated UNV as focal point for the follow-up to the International Year of Volunteers, a further opportunity to promote the ideals of volunteerism around the world.