This day hopes to heighten people's and governments' awareness of the voluntary contributions. It also focuses on stimulating people to offer their services as volunteers, both at home and abroad. International Volunteer Day for Economic and Social Development theme for 2012 is "Celebrate volunteering".
The Day offers an opportunity for volunteer organisations and individual volunteers to make visible their contributions - at local, national and international levels to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Apart from mobilising thousands of volunteers every year, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme works closely with partners and governments to establish national volunteer programmes to create structures that foster and sustain local volunteerism in countries.
Through the Online Volunteering service volunteers can take action for sustainable human development by supporting the activities of development organisations over the Internet. Every day thousands of people are volunteering, online or on-site, contributing to peace and development and working to achieve the MDGs.
The main focus of IVD 2012 is awareness of and recognition for volunteers and volunteer organisations. The purpose is to recognise this commitment, to inform people about the impact of volunteering on peace and sustainable development, and to applaud volunteers for their dedication and impact. In 2001, the International Year of Volunteers, the Assembly adopted a set of recommendations on ways that governments and the UN could support volunteering and asked that they be widely disseminated.