Madame President, Members of the Executive Board,

I am pleased to introduce the session presenting the Administrator’s Report on the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) for 2020, the third year of the UNV Strategic Framework 2018-2021. This is the first Executive Board session for both Mr. Toily Kurbanov, UNV Executive Coordinator, and myself as UNDP Associate Administrator. Please allow me to highlight some of the key elements of the report and the close cooperation between UNDP and UNV, before Mr. Kurbanov takes the floor to speak to you in greater detail.

This annual report is the third one under the current Strategic Framework of UNV for 2018-2021 and the first one since the adoption of the Quadrennial Comprehensive Policy Review (QCPR) of the UN Development System. Therefore, accompanied by the initial findings of the independent evaluation of the Strategic Framework, it reflects the organization’s renewed dynamism and highlights its role as the UN systemwide service hosted by UNDP.

UNDP is proud to host UNV, one of the first common services of the UN system, established in 1971. At the same time, UNDP, alongside 59 other entities of the UN system, is a beneficiary of UNV services. In 2020, UNDP hosted 3,121 UN Volunteers. This is 10% of UNDP’s global workforce. These volunteers, 50% of whom were female, made a difference in the lives of communities and contributed to strategic objectives of UNDP.

Although UNV turns 50 this year, the organization chose not to “celebrate” its anniversary as we all continue to feel the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it is focusing on continuing search, selection, enabling and empowerment of UN Volunteers, including those who are working on the frontline of the global response to COVID-19. In 2020, over 1,000 UN Volunteers were mobilized for related assignments in the UN Development System.

As you will no doubt hear from Mr. Kurbanov, the main impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic on UNV’s work has been a shift from in the balance between international and national UN volunteers mainly driven by international travel restrictions. In 2020, for the first time in UNV’s 50-year history, there were more national UN Volunteers than international, with a 56/44 percent split. With a growing number of national talent pools, UNV was able to quickly adjust and to ensure seamless deployments of critical capacity despite the global lockdowns.

I would like to thank all UN Volunteers who serve the United Nations in the development, peace and security, and human rights pillars. As noted in the evaluation of UNV’s Strategic Framework, “they brought diversity and grass roots to the UN”. My gratitude also goes out to the staff of UNV, whom I already had a chance to meet in a Global UNV Townhall last month. Even when faced with significant changes, they have delivered outstanding results.

Finally, before I hand over to Mr. Kurbanov, I would like to introduce a short video originally developed for International Volunteers Day 2020, which expresses everything we all want to say to the one billion volunteers around the world.

Thank you, Mme. President.