UNV coordinator meets officials to promote cooperation for volunteerism

AMMAN — The executive coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, Olivier Adam, concluded a visit to the Kingdom on Wednesday, where he discussed with senior officials cooperation between Jordan and UNV “in promoting volunteerism as a valuable resource for sustainable development in the country”.

Adam presented the director of Foreign Ministry’s Human Rights and Human Security Department Hussam Husseini key results of the UNV programme since the opening of UNV’s regional office in Amman in January 2018, a UNV statement to The Jordan Times said.

“In the last year, over 1,000 UN Volunteers have been mobilised by the newly established regional office in the Arab states, including 83 national and international volunteers in Jordan,” Adam said.

Both parties discussed the means of promoting volunteerism in the country and increasing international volunteering opportunities, with Husseini emphasising the need to set targets to increase the number of Jordanian nationals serving the UN system and achieve results before the end of 2019, according to the statement.

Adam also discussed cooperation with Director of the Humanitarian Relief Coordination Unit at the Planning Ministry Feda Gharaibeh, who stressed the ministry’s interest in increasing volunteering opportunities for Jordanians with the UNV, the statement said.

Opportunities for collaboration with stakeholders in Jordan were also discussed when meeting with Tamam Mango, CEO of the Crown Prince Foundation, “that has a leadership role in strengthening volunteerism, including international exposure for Jordanian youth”, according to the statement.

The head of the UNV arrived in Amman on February 17 — the first stop in his mission which aims to promote volunteerism as a key resource for sustainable development in the region, with scheduled stops in Palestine and Turkey.

During his stay in Jordan, Adam also met with the volunteers serving in the country and ambassadors or the representatives of the embassies of France, the Republic of Korea, Kuwait, The Netherlands, Qatar, the Russian Federation, Sweden and Turkey. Meetings with UN partners included the regional offices of UNICEF, the UNHCR and the UNDP — the top partners of UNV in Jordan.

The UNV programme is the UN organisation that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. The UNV contributes to peace and development by mobilising volunteers, advocating for volunteerism globally and encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming.