International Volunteer Day 2008
Geneva, December 5, 2008 : The YWCA movement is supported by millions of volunteers worldwide and we send a warm 'thank you' to all of them on International Volunteer Day, December 5, 2008.
The World YWCA recognises and celebrates the role that individuals play in our life as a movement; through their commitment, the World YWCA is able to build the capacity of millions of women and girls to provide leadership in their community.
Women in the YWCA have, for a long time, resourced their own empowerment through care work, volunteerism, and donating their wealth, time and talent. In the face of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, countless women have given their time as caregivers to members of their family and the community. When the need for care arises within a community—women and young women often rise up to fill the gap that state services are unable to fill. YWCA volunteers around the world are involved in providing home based care and childcare services as well as visiting people in the hospital and helping mothers develop new skills to re-enter the job market.
At the Commission on the Status of Women in 2009, the World YWCA will call on United Nations member states to recognise and affirm community caregivers by formally endorsing the public role caregivers play in the community.
Throughout the year, The World YWCA has called on United Nations member states and international donors to allocate adequate resources through flexible and accessible financing mechanism to increase women’s empowerment and promote gender equality. With few, if any, paid staff many associations survive through the generosity of volunteers. We recognise and affirm the tireless work of these women and men. But this draws attention to how women’s grassroots organisations are poorly resourced.
As such, the World YWCA has called on UN member states and donors to support innovative funding initiatives like the World YWCA Power to Change Fund and the UNIFEM managed Violence Against Women Trust Fund.
The World YWCA joins with the United Nations and the world in observing International Volunteer Day. It is through the dedication of volunteers that movements such as the YWCA are able to contribute towards reducing poverty, ensuring peace and security, eliminating violence against women, reducing the impact of HIV and AIDS and ensuring sustainable development.
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