UNV and UNFPA call for applicants to Young Innovators Fellowship Programme

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) are calling for a third cohort of young professionals for the Young Innovators Fellowship Programme for 2022. The programme provides young people (aged 18-26) from UNFPA-supported programme countries with the opportunity to engage in a structured seven-month programme to drive innovation, creativity and capacity development and deliver concrete results with UNFPA.

The Fellowship Programme provides an opportunity to bring 18 young professionals into UNFPA, with a dedicated focus on both providing a youth perspective and driving innovation in UNFPA’s priority areas. This includes addressing unmet needs for family planning, stopping preventable maternal deaths and ending violence against women and girls.

The Young Innovators will be engaged as national UN Youth Volunteers for a duration of eight months. At the beginning of the assignment, they will be invited to online induction training organized by UNFPA. Then the Young Innovators will serve at UNFPA country or regional offices in their own countries. At the end of their assignment, they will attend a three-day capstone presentation session at UNFPA headquarters to share their experiences and achievements and to receive their certificates. Travel is subject to regulations and restrictions responsive to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Candidates need to have completed at least their secondary education and demonstrate strong commitment to UNFPA’s mandate through academic, extra-curricular and volunteer activities and/or up to three years of work experience.

If you are a young person aged between 18 and 26, with a passion to make a difference in your country, check out the available assignments below.

Applications from young women are especially encouraged. Applications will close on 20 March 2022 (kindly refer to the individual assignment opportunities for details).

Angola

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Luanda

Benin

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Cotonou

Colombia

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Bogotá

Egypt

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Cairo

Ghana

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Accra

Jordan

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Amman

Kyrgyzstan

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Bishkek

Lao PDR

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Vientiane

Madagascar

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Antananarivo

Moldova

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Chisinau

Nicaragua

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Managua

Panama

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Panama City

Papua New Guinea

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Port Moresby

Senegal

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Dakar

South Africa

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Johannesburg

Thailand

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Bangkok

Turkey

Young Innovator Fellow with UNFPA in Istanbul

UNFPA is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Our mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled. UNFPA’s goal is to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health, realize reproductive rights and reduce maternal mortality to accelerate progress on the agenda of the International Conference on Population and Development, to improve the lives of adolescents and youth, and women, enabled by population dynamics, human rights, and gender equality.

UNV is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming and mobilizing volunteers.