Blerina Xhangolli UNV Specialist for AAAAAAAA ICTD Programme	"More and more nowadays we have become witnesses to another way of getting involved in volunteer activities that has been enabled by the development of technology."
Better networked, more volunteered By Blerina Xhangolli, National UNV volunteer, Tirana, Albania “There's no big or small work in achieving sustainable environment. Every volunteer work counts.” This is a slogan you find on the World Volunteer Website (www.worldvolunteerweb.org) and it is a worthy piece of advice for anyone. Increasingly nowadays, there are many public campaigns that ask “How Green are You?” Once a year, World Environment Day focuses our attention on this issue as 5th June is the day painted in green to remind us that we live in an environment that we need to care for and to respect. On this year’s World Environment Day in Albania, volunteers from UNV, PVN and the Youth Voice Group Albania supported the UN and World Bank’s awareness-raising activity by distributing potted plants to passer-bys. The intended message was to remind the public that the environment needs us to survive. Most people were delighted at taking a plant, while others chose not to take one but still expressed an interest in finding out more about World Environment Day. Some of their words were: “Please give the flower to somebody else because I will not plant it, and even if I do I will forget to water it, and so why let it die? Rather, with pleasure I will take the leaflets and get informed.” These passer-bys were realistic and considerate enough to refuse to take a plant that they knew they would not be able to care for, but were motivated to learn more about the work and efforts being done towards supporting the environment, with the view to getting involved in future activities. Such awareness-raising activities therefore have a long-term impact by awakening in each of us the smallest, hidden idea of green - in the way we think and in the way we act While the passer-bys’ responses to this activity were positive, recognizing that “every volunteer act counts,” people in Albania often face a dilemma as to the value of volunteering considering financial constraints and the negative feelings associated with volunteer activities due to the past communist regime in Albania. More and more nowadays we have become witnesses to another way of getting involved in volunteer activities that has been enabled by the development of technology. Volunteerism, like many other sectors (government, commerce, etc.), has gone online (see for example, www.onlinevolunteering.org). As a National UNV volunteer working as a Specialist for Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) Programme for Information Communication Technology (ICT) initiatives of UNDP Albania, I am also promoting the spread of both new and old forms of volunteerism through academic networking. In many parts of the world online services are being used to enhance skills, to trade, collaborate and exchange information. The equipment and services that power these networks require qualified people who are transforming and changing the future and the world into a more connected place. CISCO Networking Academy is an innovative, global, education initiative that delivers ICT skills through online networking to meet the growing demand for better users of this technology while improving career and educational opportunities for students around the world. The networking initiatives and communication exchanges happening within the network academies and facilitated by the e-world are directly and indirectly linked with volunteerism. They are directly linked because they increase and strengthen the spirit and awareness of mutual collaboration among people and increase the flow of information. The result is that the world is a more connected, tuned and up-to-date place. The indirect effect is that the world becomes a more open-minded and multidimensional place in which diversity and unity are valued.