Ubuntu - I am because you are

“Without volunteers in the first place, we can forget the sustainable development goals,” said Kaday Mansaray Sibanda, Regional Director of Voluntary Services Overseas Southern Africa.

There are almost 150 million volunteers around the world who “come rain, come sun are working” noted Sibanda. They “go about every day supporting communities and doing the work on the ground that they are not even paid or recognised for. […] The onus is on us. Us development organisations, us donor organisations to support them, to make their work easier, so we can achieve the impact that needs to happen so that we can eradicate extreme poverty.”

In the following video Sibanda discusses the importance of community volunteers and the role that women and girls can play – 72% of volunteers are female – and what the donor community can do to support them.