Celebrating volunteers around the world

UNV

For two consecutive years (2010/11), we worked with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme to mobilise volunteers and like-minded organisations around the world to celebrate International Volunteer Day on 5 December.


In 2010 we devised an online film festival that brought together volunteer sending organizations, individuals and government bodies to celebrate and raise awareness about the impact of volunteers around the world. This effort established and strengthened UNV’s partnerships with a number of UN and non-government organisations and it galvanised volunteers.


In the months leading up to the festival, volunteers from all walks of life were invited to get out their cameras and to film a story about ending poverty where they were. Small World Stories provided story-telling guidance and video editing support to participating volunteers.

Collarge Map

We also encouraged numerous other volunteer sending organisations to participate. The promotion of the festival was largely done through social media networks and involved Small World Stories launching the UNV Facebook page, which gained 13,000 likes within weeks of going live. The film festival platform attracted more than 400,000 viewers worldwide.

 

In 2011, UNV invited Small World Stories to build on the previous years’ success with another online campaign that engaged their growing Facebook community and other partnerships. The Volunteering Matters campaign was devised and resulted in thousands of people showing why volunteering matters through an innovative mix of social media, video production and photography.