2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report: Building Equal and Inclusive Societies

The United Nations 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR) explores the ways in which volunteer–state partnerships can help to address urgent development challenges, from climate change, to ecosystem and biodiversity loss, to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report shows that despite the devastating socio-economic impacts of this pandemic, global interest in volunteering has not waned.

Volunteerism is a powerful force, and an important part of the fabric of society. Globally, it remains an important vehicle for shaping and advancing development. Key messages from the report about volunteering’s contribution to the 21st Century social contract includes that:

Volunteerism:

• can help build a culture of collaborative decision-making.;
• can alter unequal power relations;
• offers diverse pathways to civic participation but remains unequal;
• Volunteers build bridges.

Read the full report here.