Our Perspective

      • People empowering people

        23 Jun 2011

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        Volunteer teachers combat illiteracy in Burkina Faso. Photo: UNV

        Today marks the occasion of the United Nations Public Service Day, intended to celebrate the value and virtue of public service to the community and a chance to highlight the contribution of public service to international development. The work of public servants the world over deserves recognition as making a critical contribution to the development process. We thought we’d take the opportunity to focus on the thousands of volunteers worldwide whose support captures the civic and community spirit at the heart of our efforts to build empowered lives and resilient nations. Through volunteerism, people participate in the development of their own communities and their own countries. In this way volunteerism directly empowers lives, builds local ownership and fortifies communities and governments. Strategies supported by community-level action can help tackle development challenges. For example, in Nepal, UN Volunteers offer support to the Female Community Health Volunteer (FCHV) programme, through which around 50,000 women volunteers are improving maternal health in rural areas. National volunteers can also bring valuable knowledge of the local context, allowing development partners to reach out to communities and strengthen their ability to become active players in addressing the challenges they face.  At the broadest level, volunteering is an opportunity Read More

      • Where do human rights belong in development?

        14 Jun 2011

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        Women benefiting from a law in India that made the right to work an enforceable right. Photo: UNDP

        While the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and human rights are often thought of as separate concepts, synergies exist in practice. Human rights approaches seek to address the root causes of development problems. As former Secretary-General Kofi Annan once said, “Human rights can be found at the heart of every major challenge facing humanity.” At the same time, human development embraces the range of social, economic, cultural, and political rights as defined by the international community. Human development is about expanding the choices people have to lead lives which they value, the resources to make those choices meaningful, and the security to ensure that those choices can be exercised in peace. Making these links between the human development approach and human rights instruments and international laws is consistent with the approach set out in the Millennium Declaration. The words of the Millennium Declaration are clear. “We will spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development.” Read the full Declaration By signing that document in 2000, Heads of State and Government committed themselves to upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Read More

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The Speakers Corner helps connect think tanks, academia, the media and the public to a diverse group of experts who can speak to UNDP’s commitment to “empower lives” and build "resilient nations.”

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