23 June 2006

We are proud to announce that the World Volunteer Web has won this year’s Web4Dev Award for excellence in website design and development. The Web4Dev Award for 2006 is sponsored by the World Bank and was presented on 21 June at a ceremony in Washington D.C.

The objective of the Award is to recognize excellence in Web design and to share lessons learned among the development community on how to best use the Web as a tool to support development activities. The selection criteria were: content, visual design, interactivity, site layout and navigation, and compatibility of technology and accessibility.

Web4Dev, short for Web for Development, is a network of 88 UN, private and non-governmental organizations making use of the Web for development-related work. At the last Web4Dev conference in May 2005, the World Bank offered to sponsor the 2006 Web4Dev Award to recognize examples of exemplary work within the Web4Dev community. Some 26 organizations of the Web4Dev community participated in the competition, from which a panel of seven judges selected three winners and two honourable mentions.

The other two winners are the websites of ReliefWeb and the International Atomic Energy Agency. The World Health Organization and the ADB Institute websites received honourable mentions.

The World Volunteer Web was re-launched with a new design and new functionalities in November 2005. The new website is the result of our readers’ feedback through the readership survey conducted earlier that year.

On behalf of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, which publishes this website in partnership with a number of volunteer organizations, we take this opportunity to thank our partners and readers for their contribution to the World Volunteer Web. Their comments, suggestions and contributions of articles and other resources have been of immense value in developing this website as a global clearinghouse of information related to volunteerism. We are also thankful to our volunteer editors, translators and writers who have been helping us on a regular basis.

Please keep sharing your ideas and comments with us.

Take our brief feedback survey to tell us how you like the new design and features, and also how we can further improve this website.

Thank you.

The World Volunteer Web Team