Volunteer organisations in Fiji will commemorate the 10th Anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) through a workshop organised by the International Volunteer Day or IVD National Steering Committee.
Zarina Begum from the United Nations Office in Suva, who is the IYV chairperson said the workshop would be held on June 30 at Studio 6 , Walu Street in Suva.
“In Fiji this event is annually organised and coordinated by the IVD National Steering Committee comprising of government ministries, non-governmental and civil society organizations, volunteer sending organisation, private sector, youth groups and UN Agencies,” Ms Begum said.
“The objective of the workshop is to provide an environment for networking and strengthened partnerships for volunteer organisations and for both national and international networks.
“It is also to identify and promote key contributions by volunteer organisation towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals 2015. And to develop a volunteer organisation directory to strengthen networks and communications.”
Volunteer work in Fiji has in so many ways assisted the efforts by Government in fill the gap between individual or community resources and those provided by Government.
Recently Government welcomed the support of the Public Service Commission to host the Fiji Volunteer Scheme under the assistance from the Government of the United States of America.
Several overseas volunteer organisations have been helping Fiji develop in the past years like the Peace Corp volunteers of the USA and the Japanese volunteers under JICA and others who have contributed equally well to Fiji.
Mr Shibasaki Eiji who is the manager for Japanese Volunteers Fiji says that since 1983 a total of 550 Japanese volunteers have worked in Fiji.
“Currently there are 51 Japanese Volunteers working in Fiji in the fields of education, environment, vocational studies fisheries and health contributing positively to development in Fiji,” Mr Eiji says. The International Volunteer Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 40/212 on December 17, 1985.
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