We had a GLOWing time!

UNV’s second Global Workshop, GLOW 2005, was roundly declared a success after seven intense days of dialogue, knowledge sharing, and relationship building.

Framed around the slogan “Moving forward together,” the workshop was fuelled by the necessity to engage all parts of UNV in developing a common understanding and collective ownership of the programme. Equally important, as stressed by UNV Executive Coordinator Ad de Raad, the workshop provided the chance to strengthen, in a participatory way, UNV’s mission of promoting volunteering for development and mobilizing volunteers.

More than 300 participants representing 113 nationalities assembled in Bonn, hailing from UNV country offices, HQ, its offices in Cyprus, Geneva, New York, and Tokyo, UNDP, as well as other UN agencies and external organizations.

A platform for discussion

For UN Volunteer Wilson Palash Mondal, a Bangladeshi serving as the Programme Officer (PO) in Guyana, his participation at GLOW was a “once in a lifetime experience.”

“GLOW brought everyone together, to have an opportunity to share views and concerns with other POs and Headquarters staff,” he said. “I found the week extremely refreshing in that I have a better idea of where we, as an organization, are going. We’re definitely looking ahead, that’s for sure.”

The biggest impact of the workshop, he felt, was getting to know people personally. “Sure, we have email, the PO-Net [a web-based exchange forum for POs], but you can’t beat person-to-person contact,” he noted. “I can now put faces to names, which will go a long way in helping my daily work – if I want to get support on implementing a project that was showcased at GLOW, I know whom to contact for help.”

A time to capture ideas

Fostering open dialogue on opportunities and challenges for the future of UNV was one of the main objectives of GLOW. So the workshop’s organizers, which included some 80 volunteers from HQ and COs, focused intently on technology to enhance participation. GLOW head organizer Douglas Evangelista was particularly proud of the online Needs Assessment questionnaire and the GLOWeb (http://glow.unvolunteers.org), an interactive website established specifically for the workshop.

“When we started planning for the GLOW, we wanted to ensure that everyone, be it someone from headquarters or CO teams, would have the opportunity to participate,” he says. “Using the web as a two-way communications tool has proved highly successful.l” During the workshop itself, an electronic voting and audience response system enabled participants to determine which sessions to attend or topics to discuss, as well as to rate the day’s events.

Paulin Djomo, the UNV Programme Manager with the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, says while the technology used to capture ideas was impressive, he hopes that the information shared by the GLOW participants will ultimately influence daily operations.

“The fact that we had a workshop says our [country office colleagues] voices were needed to help shape the future of UNV,” he said. “This week has shown me that the organization has understood our issues and we will all work together in implementing them to make a stronger, more focused UNV.”

A mix of fun and work

Beyond the hard work, several outings to other cities were held, as well as sporting events and nightly entertainment, from discos to karaoke and bowling to a talent show. One of the social highlights was the farewell party, where in addition to a mixture of music from all continents, prizes were given out in recognition of the best Share Fair stalls – booths set up by both HQ sections and CO teams displaying the best of what each respective country or unit has to offer.

The next steps