HSE University and United Nations Volunteer Programme Sign Cooperation Agreement
HSE University, represented by the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector, and the United Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV) signed a partnership agreement, under which they will regularly exchange information, carry out joint research, as well as organize conferences and other events.
With their new partnership, the institutions hope to raise the quality of volunteerism research and improve access to research data regarding its efficacy in achieving sustainable development goals. The signing ceremony took place at the newly renovated Durasov House, a federal cultural heritage site, on Pokrovsky Boulevard.
Opening the ceremony, the head of the delegation, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator Toily Kurbanov, a longtime friend and a distinguished guest of HSE, introduced his colleagues. The delegation included: Chief Kyoko Yokosuka of the External Relations and Communications Section of the UNV headquarters in Bonn; Rafael Martinez Gil, Partnerships Development Specialist, External Relations and Communications Section UNV; and Ilona Filimonova and Alena Nazarova, representatives of the United Nations Development Programme regional offices in Istanbul and Moscow, respectively.
HSE Vice President and Research Advisor of the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector Lev Jakobson, Center Director Irina Mersianova, and Center Chief Expert Vyacheslav Ivanov agreed that the signing of the agreement was a natural outcome of a decade of collaboration between the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector and the United Nations Volunteer Programme.
The plan for joint action includes organizing the 2020 Global Meeting on Volunteering, exchanging methodology for measuring the effectiveness of volunteering at national levels, organizing the next State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, and further activities on the UN’s Plan of Action to integrate volunteering into the 2030 Agenda.
The collaboration began with HSE University providing expert support in drafting a concept of the UN first State of the World’s Volunteerism Report and reviewing its preliminary results in different stages of preparation. The first report was issued in 2011. In 2015 and 2018, updated reports were prepared on the topic, with active participation of the HSE Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector. The reports have been translated into the six official languages of the UN.
Subsequently, the research collaboration between the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector and UNV continued in the form of consultations provided to UN departments as well as joint expert and analytical activities in researching volunteerism and its contribution to fostering peace and sustainable development in addition to jointly organizing research conferences and forums about volunteering.
In conjunction with the UN Volunteer Programme and the UN Development Programme, the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector held three major international conferences in 2017–2019 at HSE University for researchers of volunteerism from Russia, the CIS, and other countries.
Under the new agreement, the parties will regularly engage in dialogue, conduct joint research, and organize conferences and other events.
Irina V. Mersiyanova
Director of the Center for Studies of Civil Society and the Nonprofit Sector
Lev I. Jakobson
HSE Vice President
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