Yurii Chernukha: Dare to dream
I am happy that I was able to help United Nations agencies work towards the Sustainable Development Goals and contribute to the UNV Strategic Framework. It is also meaningful to see volunteerism as a driving force for a better future.
Yurii Chernukha served as a UN Volunteer Operations Assistant in the Procurement Unit of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine from August 2019 to 2021. He always wanted to work in the United Nations system – he said it was his dream. So serving as a UN Volunteer was an excellent start.
In his assignment, Yurii supported different administrative and procurement tasks. He created vendor profiles, posted new tender announcements on the UNDP procurement notices platform, and modified the UNDP Ukraine staff list.
He collaborated not only with colleagues from UNDP units but also with various UN partner agencies. Yurii developed new ideas on how to improve the database of vendor profiles. He developed training materials and conducted training for colleagues. Yurii was a member of the UNDP Ukraine Learning Committee.
Yurii has fond memories of meeting UNV Senior Management during their official visit to Ukraine. He calls it a memorable moment, "It was such a pleasure to meet Kyoko Yokosuka, Deputy Coordinator of UNV during her visit to see the serving UN Volunteers in the country.”
Yurii currently resides in Germany following his displacement due to the war in Ukraine.
This article was produced with the kind support of Online Volunteer Abbey Gibson. Find out more on how to volunteer online or engage Online Volunteers.
