International volunteers’ day 2018 celebrated

By Amie Taylor The 5th of December marked yet another International Volunteers Day. The event was held in the UN Library at the UN House in Bakau, Cape Point. The theme for this year’s celebrations stated “Volunteers build resilient communities”. “As part of 2018 International Volunteers Day celebrations however, the International United Nations Volunteers, in partnership with the national volunteers organization of The Gambia, Volnet, embarked on a series of activities to mark this year’s celebrations”, said Ms Bintu Mahfouze Aidara, UN Volunteers Representative. The 5-day activity involved awareness raising on environmental protection and community clean up exercise for community, radio talk show on importance of volunteerism and dangers of drug trafficking and drug abuse, panel discussion on dangers of irregular migration and the importance of volunteerism for 150 university students, awarding certificates to 20 champion community volunteers from across The Gambia and UN statement in recognition of the contribution volunteers make across the world, which was held from Saturday 17th of November to Wednesday 5th of December respectively. According to Ms Aidara, there are 109 million volunteers globally, 70% of which are informal and the rest are formal. “50% of the overall volunteers are also female”, she added. Speaking on behalf of Ms Seraphine Wakana, Resident Coordinator UN System in The Gambia, Ms Sandra Lattouf gave a reading of International Volunteer Day 2018 Statement. Among the awardees were Young People Without Border and World View The Gambia who were awarded for their immense contribution to national development through support to volunteer initiatives, cross border engagements and promotion of volunteerism, and national development through administrative and logistical support to volunteer in changes and promotion of volunteerism respectively.]]>