Kiev, Ukraine: For Olga Kolosyuk, clean water represents progress in a post-Chernobyl Ukraine. The fact that her village of 1,000 has safe drinking water demonstrates what the community has accomplished—most notably the refurbishment of a local water supply—since taking the lead in improving their situation. She is one of numerous volunteers who, with the help of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, set up a community organization in the village.  Read article

Young Pinoys joined the rest of the world in celebrating volunteerism and the altruism of youth during the annual Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City last week.   Read article

Washington, DC, USA: Despite a need for more resources, the vast majority of non-profit organizations are not capitalizing on the valuable professional skills of their volunteers, a new study has found.   Read article

Colombo, Sri Lanka: The government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme today launched a new initiative to set in motion the establishment of a volunteer infrastructure to position volunteerism as a contributor to the country’s development agenda.  Read article

Islamabad, Pakistan: Volunteers who served during the rescue and relief operations after the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan were honoured and awarded at a ceremony held here on Monday. Chairman of the country’s National Volunteer Movement (NVM), Senator Muhammad Ali Durrani, gave away prizes and certificates.  Read article

Ottawa, Canada: Immigrants give larger donations, on average, than the Canadian-born population but they are slightly less likely to volunteer their time than people born in Canada, according to research by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD).  Read article

Beijing, China: China will send 6,500 university graduates to serve the poor western countryside as volunteers this year to work in education, health care and agriculture.  Read article

Manila, Philippines: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Cisco Systems have said they are aiming to expand their information technology volunteer program in the Philippines after its successfull launch last year.   Read article

Durban, South Africa: More than 5 000 Durban women have volunteered for the world's largest microbicides clinical trials that will test the efficacy of the anti-HIV product which, if successful, could prevent at least 2.5 million new infections in the developing world over the next five years.  Read article

London, UK: A leading national advice charity, Citizens Advice, today hailed a major new government recruitment drive a success after it attracted hundreds of young volunteers - almost half of those recruited - from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities.   Read article