Serving with the IOM Durable Solutions Programme, Leena recognizes the opportunity to consult people with various backgrounds as a real asset in her daily activities as a UN Volunteer. She sees the diversity of their ideas and opinions as a rich resource to build cohesion and sustainable solutions. Volunteerism strengthens civic engagement, social inclusion, solidarity and ownership. It also builds capacities, ownership and connections between local communities and national authorities for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Samara Hamid, a national UN Youth Volunteer Site Planner and Project Associate with IOM, believes that by becoming a volunteer one can extend knowledge and skills in the humanitarian and development sector.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), is committed to humane and orderly migration to benefit all migrants and society. As an inter-governmental body, IOM acts with its partners to support governments in meeting the operational challenges of migration; advance understanding of migration issues; encourage social and economic development through migration; and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants.

Natural disasters displace three times as many people as conflicts In 2018, natural disasters including drought, cyclones and floods forced almost 2.6 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa to flee their homes. This triggers competition over depleted natural resources which can spark conflict between communities or compound pre-existing vulnerabilities. In West and Central Africa, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is at the heart of the climate action for building resilience to climate change and peace promotion.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the most malnourished countries on earth, with over 4.6m children acutely malnourished, including 2.2m children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The country is also facing an epidemic of sexual violence. Spiraling humanitarian needs and the rapid escalation in grave protection violations against women and children in the  DRC should be of concern to everyone.

Following the earthquake, the situation of women and girls was of special concern because they are more likely to become victims of violence and discrimination in a humanitarian emergency. Displacement, over-crowed camps, lack of privacy and lighting, limited and unsegregated wash facilities increase the risks. 

From May to December 2012, UN Volunteers in Juba deployed to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) through the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) were active in an Emergency Return and Reintegration Operation of South Sudanese Returnees.   The two part operation successfully achieved the emergency return of 12,000 returnees and the emergency reintegration of 1,600 returnees to South Sudan.

Wau, South Sudan: Everybody likes a story with a happy ending. This is especially true for people working on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants and women associated with armed forces and groups (WAAF). As a Management Systems Officer, Prince Isaiah, a UN Volunteer from Liberia, accumulates data on people’s reintegration for the Crisis Prevention Recovery Unit of UNDP’s DDR program in South Sudan. For him, finding success stories is one of the best parts of his job.

How does the recruitment of UN Volunteers add value to IOM? As an efficient, speedy and diverse talent solution for UN partners, UN Volunteers serve with UN entities to bring people to the forefront of development, peace and humanitarian issues. UNV manages a pool of over 350,000 talented and qualified UN Volunteers who can be deployed to bolster the delivery of IOM’s programmes and support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.