Areas of service for UNITeS-affiliated volunteers

The UNITeS initiative serves all volunteers engaged in ICT4D, not only those directly related to UNV or other United Nations programs. It promotes the involvement of volunteers from ANY organization, as well as local volunteers, equally fundamental to successful ICT4D efforts.

Volunteers bring ICT expertise in virtually any field related to development, including health, education, environment, governance, gender equity, prevention of HIV/AIDS and support to those affected by HIV/AIDS, and development and sustainability of small-medium enterprises. This also includes humanitarian assistance activities.

UNITeS is focused on the capacity-building dimension of the digital divide. It does not promote the involvement of volunteers to take on ICT tasks that do not ALSO have a capacity-building element. This means, for example, that a volunteer assignment may primarily involve wiring a rural school for the Internet, but it should ALSO involve building the capacity of local people to maintain the network themselves, or working with teachers to help them understand the benefits of the Internet and how to find resources they can use in the classrooms. A volunteer could set up a Geographic Information System (GIS) for environmental monitoring of national parks, but the volunteer should also build the capacity of those who will maintain the system. The volunteer may develop Internet applications that would enable a women´s rights NGO forum to conduct virtual conferences over the Internet, but the volunteer should also engage in activities that build the capacity of the NGO staff to use the application themselves.

In all cases, volunteers are encouraged and supported to promote volunteerism during their assignments, to multiply their impact and to demonstrate that volunteerism is essential to the success and sustainability of ICT projects.