Sourced From: http://www.unv.org/
The sixty-fourth annual United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI)/NGO meeting entitled “Sustainable Societies: Responsive Citizens” will be held in Bonn, Germany from 3 to 5 September. It is expected that the main focus of discussion during this meet would remain on sustainable development and volunteerism. These two themes would be used to highlight the impact that volunteers and engaged citizens usually make on sustainable livelihoods and communities.
Experts are also expecting this conference to secure renewed commitment from the NGO community on the issue of sustainable development by assessing the progress made to date, specifically around the issue of building sustainable societies through responsive citizenship.
The Conference will provide the global NGO community the opportunity to prepare a consensus statement containing their input on sustainable development and its relationship to volunteerism, as well as reflecting their views on the upcoming major United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development scheduled for 4-6 June 2012 in Brazil, known as Rio+20, and the General Assembly’s discussion in December 2011 on the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10). In addition, with its important overarching theme on the role of volunteerism in promoting sustainability, the DPI/NGO Conference is expected to influence those talks in the Assembly.
A key partner in this year’s event is the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. Looking forward to the Bonn meeting, UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri says, “The themes we’ll be discussing are more significant than ever. NGOs and responsive citizens — the people — act at the heart of societies. They are key to transforming development, since grass-roots voluntary action reaches into the long-term and is more responsive to community needs, giving it real sustainability.” “The development debate is shifting,” she warns, and adds: “Sustainability and human well-being are finally coming to centre stage.”
In calling for the global NGO community to seize the opportunity Bonn presents as UNV marks IYV+10, and in the run-up to Rio+20, Ms Pansieri suggests that “volunteering is a truly sustainable and people-centred approach, so let’s join together and seize the chance to move it up the international agenda through this conference.”
