Would you like to request volunteer services?
If so, please complete a volunteer request form outlining information on your field of activity, organizations structure, current staffing and marketing situation. We will then endeavor to recommend candidates from our network of partners. Once you have completed the request form, or if you would like more information, please get in touch with UNV at the Tirana Office.
Fran Deans, UNV Albania Programme Officer, fran.deans@undp.org
Blerina Gjeka, UNV Albania Country Operations Assistant, blerina.gjeka@undp.org
Promoting Youth Volunteerism in the Model UN Programme
Model UN is a participatory and informative method for people of all ages and backgrounds to learn more about global issues and the role and functions of the United Nations. Students participating in the 2008 Model UN programme in Albania will take part in a local volunteer activity. UNV will work with participating schools to help them define a small-scale volunteer project in their school or community. In this way, UNV hopes to promote the values of volunteerism among students, and raise awareness of the benefits of civic engagement as a healthy source of effective development.
The Model UN programme provides an authentic simulation of the activities of a UN body such as the General Assembly and its committees or the Security Council or other body. Participants assume the roles of diplomatic representatives to the UN and are faced with the challenging and stimulating task of working on items from the UN system’s vast agenda. Through Model UN, youth have the opportunity to work together and widen their views and minds as they, through their assumed roles, approach problems from alternative angles. The Model UN therefore provides an opportunity to contribute towards enhanced understanding and skills in peace-building, championing the crucial ideals of human rights and equality in society.
To read more about the programme, why not read the latest Model UN Newsletter at the UNDP website?
Past UNV Activities
Fostering Regional Confidence through Community Mobilization
The UNDP/UNV project Regional Integration through Volunteers Exchanges for Reconciliation in South East Europe successfully fostered regional integration, social cohesion and poverty reduction through the promotion of volunteerism and community mobilization. The initiative, which ran from 2005 to 2007 made a positive contribution towards building regional confidence and connected people and governments throughout the Balkans following the recent social, political and economic upheavals. Through regional volunteer exchanges UNV was able to strengthen communication networks that promote volunteerism and community mobilization as an invaluable tool in sustainable local development. Volunteers who joined the initiative developed the organizational and coordination capacity of local community groups, providing them with the tools to drive their own development.
While responding to local needs the initiative built the capacity of implementing partner organizations within which the volunteers served, to identify, mobilize, manage and retain a large volunteer workforce. In addition, the project worked to raise the profile and visibility of the partner organizations. At the initiatives conclusion in 2007, UNV Albania was proud to have strengthened the capacities of volunteer involving organizations that were fully recognized nationally for their invaluable contribution towards civil society development through community mobilization and the skillful management of volunteers. The project was designed and implemented by UNDP/UNV in close partnership with European Union (EU)/European Voluntary Service (EVS), Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO), OneWorld and South Eastern European Youth Network (SEEYN).
A Case Study from the Project
Themi Mile,a 22 two year old Albanian from Tirana spent three months working voluntarily in Vukovar, Croatia from December 2006 to February 2007. During his time in Croatia Themi worked for a local NGO. He was in charge of organizing activities and courses for Roma children, offering informal education to help motivate them in their schooling.
Promoting Environmental Awareness in Albania through Volunteerism
The UNV/Regional Environmental Center (REC) project Promoting MDG 7 principles in Albania through Awareness and Volunteerism ran from 2005 to 2007. The initiative raised awareness of the need for sustainable development in order to safeguard environmental resources, as stated in the seventh of the Millennium Development Goals.This entailed ensuring a better understanding of the principles of sustainable development both regionally and locally by promoting the interconnected relationship between communities and their natural environment.
The project worked with high schools around the country to promote the natural environment and the Millennium Development Goals. Students were involved in preparing posters and writing essays inspired by the MDG 7 principles, calling for environmentally sustainable development. They also took part in tree planting ceremonies within their local communities. Along with ensuring greater understanding of environmental issues, the project held a series of local forums throughout the country to ensure that sustainable development is integrated into regional and local level development planning. This involved working with a range of local stakeholders including NGOs, local authorities and research institutions. During this process some regions placed a specific focus upon ecotourism planning that sought to both make effective use of zones of particular natural beauty and contribute towards regional economic growth.
UNV Support to Local Governance Programme in Albania
Between 2002 and 2004 UNV partnered with UNDP's Local Governance Programme to integrate volunteerism within local development planning. Working in partnership with local government, UNV directly supported the project by building the capacity of community based organizations and advising local government on policy development. A central theme running throughout this project was promoting the integral role that volunteerism plays in social mobilization practices. UNV supported the ongoing process of decentralization and democratization in Albania with a 458.696 US Dollars pledge to the UNDP Local Governance Programme. By partnering with the programme, UNV directly supported the process of decentralization and was ideally placed to integrate volunteerism into local development planning.
During the project, 26 UNV volunteers, 17 national and 9 international, served in some of the poorest communes and municipalities in the regions of Kukes, Gjirokaster and Fier. Supporting greater transparency and participatory methods of development planning, UNV volunteers facilitated dialogue between local and regional government in the sharing of information, skills and best practices. In all, 126 community based organizations were set up to support local development projects, mainly in the construction of local infrastructure and healthcare services.
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