The following are ideas to consider when planning activities to mark International Volunteer Day (IVD) in your country.

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Form or join an IVD national committee

• If your country has a national committee or organization promoting IVD, find out how you can get involved.  If not, start by bringing together key players and stakeholders to discuss a national strategy for IVD. Check the list of IVD focal points 
• Try to involve persons from different sectors such as education, non-profit, United Nations agencies, the private sector, media, government, foundations and community-based organizations. 
• In some countries, former International Year of Volunteers (IYV) 2001 national committees have continued organizing IVD activities.  Such committees can lend invaluable support by promoting volunteerism through civil society and volunteer-related events. 
• Consider ways to solicit political, financial and in-kind support; elect a focal point to recruit and coordinate volunteer participation in IVD preparations.  You may want to refer to UN Resolutions A/RES/40/212 which proclaimed IVD and A/RES/57/106 which reaffirmed its importance. 

Determine a national theme or focus

• IVD provides the best opportunity to showcase the contribution of volunteers to society and encourage more people to volunteer.  
• Use IVD to embed the Millennium Development Goals in the development work of civil society organizations by promoting the idea of volunteering for development. 
• Make sure that your theme or themes relate to people in the whole country, NOT only in urban centers. 
• Bear in mind that the more people and organizations can relate to the topic, the better your chances of involving the broad public. 
• Consider ways to link IVD and the work of volunteers to an urgent development issue in your country, such as environmental protection, the eradication of poverty, primary education, combating poverty, coping with HIV/AIDS, or improving the status of women. Highlight sustainable results of the MDGs and support their achievement through joint activities. 
• Learn about sucessful IVD activities which addressed MDGs in the past.

Plan activities for the day

• Prepare activities that will address or raise awareness about national IVD goals, while also mobilizing the greatest number of volunteers and stakeholders. Clearly demonstrate that these activities are linked to longer-term volunteering initiatives. 
• Help stakeholders plan and implement activities, and pave convenient ways for supporters to offer political, financial or in-kind assistance. 
• Visit this IVD campaign site regularly to find new listings of various possibilities for stakeholders, supporters and activities.
• Refer to the idea sheet for more ideas on planning and organizing activities. 

Join the global network

• Participate in global preparations by exchanging ideas and sharing resources. The website will publish national IVD plans, promotional tools, activities, news, and final IVD reports; they will also be published in the special IVD newsletter.  Share your materials by sending them to us at info@worldvolunteerweb.org.  Please include ‘IVD (country name)’ in the subject line of your email. 
• Join our discussion forum - the Speakers' Corner - and support each other by exchanging ideas, discussing challenges, and providing feedback to each other. You can also contribute to the special IVD blog. 
• All IVD national committees should contact UN Volunteers to register their committee and have it listed on our IVD network list. 
• Join the global network.

Produce promotional materials

• Get the IVD emblem and modify it with a national slogan. 
• Download the IVD poster and information resources -- available in English, French and Spanish -- to create posters, flyers and calendars of activities. Make IVD materials available to the public at large. 
• Look for partners with effective distribution networks to disseminate IVD materials, and provide them to libraries, community centres, educational institutes, offices of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and government buildings. 

Develop a media strategy

• Create media tools and plan a distribution strategy. 
• Aim to increase volunteer related coverage the weeks leading up to IVD and make a schedule of your best media opportunities for 5 December. 
• Keep journalists abreast of your plans. 
• Establish good relations with all media organizations by supplying news releases, articles and photographs of volunteer activities. 
• Distribute media releases through UN agencies’ channels, government institutions, NGO or civil society organization networks. Involve their information officers, who could promote IVD proactively at events, post IVD activities on their organizational websites, or include them in their regular newsletters. 
• Name a focal/contact person to answer media inquiries and to actively contact them. 
• Coordinate discussions about volunteerism or interviews with outstanding volunteers (such as movie stars, actors, singers, athletes, politicians or community leaders) on TV and radio. 
• See our IVD media kit for more tips and ideas.

Document your plans and report on the outcomes

• Capture IVD activities by taking photos, collecting speeches, and gathering basic statistics about the number and scope of national events. You may want to recruit volunteer journalists to help capture the day. 
• Send reports, stories, photos, speeches, and other materials to info@worldvolunteerweb.org.  Please include ‘IVD: (country name)’ in the subject line of your email.   
• Registered national committees will be invited to fill in the questionnaire which helps us assess what happened during International Volunteer Day (IVD) celebrations on 5 December, and measure its success worldwide.  
• Send your national IVD reports. They will be posted here on this IVD campaign site and featured in the special IVD newsletter.