International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development is celebrated every year internationally all over the world on the 5th of December. This event celebration provides a great chance for all the individual volunteers and organizations of volunteers to show their contributions at the international, national, and local levels in order to get the Millennium Development Goals.
Celebrating International Volunteer Day every year for Economic and Social Development was first approved by the United Nations General Assembly. It was declared on the 17th of December in 1985 to be celebrated on the 5th of December every year worldwide. Since then, International Volunteer Day was started celebrating yearly by the UN system, governments, civil society organizations and etc.
International Volunteer Day 2024
Every year celebration of the International Volunteer Day helps thousands of volunteers to get mobilized and works very intimately with partners as well as government organizations to set up the program for national volunteers to make the organizations that can promote and carry on local volunteerism in all countries.
Volunteers, using online volunteering services, work in groups and take action for continuous human development by promoting the development organizations’ activities over the Internet. Thousands of people are working as a volunteers daily using their online or on-site resources to maintain peace and human development as well as to attain the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals).
International Volunteer Day is celebrated yearly worldwide on the 6th of December with the great hope of a better world. It focuses on promoting awareness and appreciating individual volunteers as well as volunteer organizations. It aimed to recognize the commitment of volunteers in order to get people informed about the effects of volunteering on harmony and continuous human development.
International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development
International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development 2024 will be celebrated on Thursday, the 5th of December.
What is the Online Volunteering Award?
The online volunteering award is offered to the best volunteer for recognizing his great contribution towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals for economic and social development. Online or onsite volunteers get encouraged and strengthen their capacities of performance for promoting peace and human development through the projects by giving their precious time, proficiency, and knowledge on the Internet.
The UNV (United Nations Volunteers) Online Volunteering Award gives a chance to online volunteers and their organizations to show their online volunteering experiences and excellent practices to be aware of the global audience. 10 online volunteers get nominated for getting the UNV Online Volunteering Award for their great contribution and achievement of the MDGs.
The UNV online volunteering award is provided to the online individual volunteer or teams of online volunteers supporting a volunteering organization running for peace and human development through the Internet.
What are the Selection Criteria?
The nomination of the volunteers for the UNV online volunteering award is reviewed by the jury which is based on the following mentioned criteria:
The dedication and involvement of online volunteers.
The working relationship between the volunteers and volunteering organizations
The outcome of the teamwork and impact on the activities of the volunteer organization.
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE AND WHAT PURPOSE OF CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER DAY
There are many important objectives of celebrating international volunteer day for economic and social development. Some of the purposes are mentioned below:
International volunteer day is celebrated every year to make the living of human being better worldwide by promoting peace and human development.
International volunteer day is celebrated to recognize the contributions of online volunteers towards the achievement of the MDGs.
To demonstrate their volunteering experiences, excellent practices, and how they get strengthened their capacities of work for promoting peace and human development by their skills and knowledge through the Internet.
To inspire and mobilize the general public globally through the experiences of volunteers engaged in harmony and human progress activities on the Internet.
It targets overcoming poverty, diseases, illiteracy, hunger, environmental deprivation, and intolerance against women.
To remove poverty, achieve widespread primary education, promote gender equality, authorize women, reduce the child death rate, improve maternal health, prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, malaria, dengue, or other foremost diseases as well as to make sure the environmental sustainability.
HOW IT IS CELEBRATED
International Volunteer Day celebration focuses on increasing awareness among people and government organizations for their voluntary contributions. Stimulate the people, businesses, nonprofit organizations and etc to put forward their services as a volunteer through various activities such as:
Award ceremony organized for winning volunteers for appreciating their significant involvement in their communities. A time donation campaign involves people pledging voluntary services to precise projects.
Voluntary programs launched by the Companies as part of their business responsibility.
THEME OF INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER DAY
- The theme of 2012 was “Celebrate our commitment and hope to a better world”.
- The theme of 2014 was “People’s Participation. Make change happen, volunteer!”
- The theme of 2015 was “The world is changing. Are you? Volunteer!”.
- The theme of 2016 was “Global Applause – give volunteers a hand”.
- The theme of 2017 was “Volunteers Act First. Here. Everywhere”.
- The theme of 2018 was “Volunteers build Resilient Communities”.
- The theme of 2019 was “Volunteer for an inclusive future”.
- The theme of 2020 was ‘Together We Can Through Volunteering’
- The theme of 2022 was “Together, act now”.
- The theme of 2023 was “the power of collective action”
International Volunteer Day Quotes
1. “Do every act of your life as if it were your last.” — Marcus Aurelius
2. “Can I see another’s woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another’s grief, And not seek for kind relief?” — William Blake
3. “Volunteers are the only human beings on the face of the earth who reflect this nation’s compassion, unselfish caring, patience, and just plain loving one another.” — Erma Brombeck
4. “Not being able to do everything is no excuse for not doing everything you can.” — Ashleigh Brilliant
5. It’s easy to make a buck. It’s a lot tougher to make a difference.” — Tom Brokaw
6. Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.” — Edmond Burke
7. You make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.” — Winston Churchill
8. “He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own.”
— Confucius
9. We are all like one-winged angels. It is only when we help each other that we can fly.” — Luciano de Crescenzo
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| December Social Events | Date of Celebration |
| World Aids Day | 1st December |
| National Pollution Control Day | 2nd December |
| International Day of Disabled Persons | 3rd December |
| Navy Day | 4th December |
| International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development | 5th December |
| Dr. Ambedkar Mahaparinirvan Diwas | 6th December |
| Armed Forces Flag Day | 7th December |
| Saarc Charter Day | 8th December |
| All India Handicrafts Week | 8th to 14th December |
| Human Rights Day | 10th December |
| Minorities Rights Day in India | 18th December |
| National Energy Conservation Day | 14th December |
| National Mathematics Day | 22nd December |
| National Farmers’ Day | 23rd December |
| Good Governance Day | 25th December |