My assignment as a UN Youth Volunteer in Youth Participation in Governance and Peacebuilding with the United Nations Development Programme is based in Ukraine. For the first six months, I was working in Kiev on business conferences and entrepreneurship promotion through targeted motivation campaigns – something that didn’t really perk my interest. It was like being in a world full of abbreviations, stacks of files and papers.

“The UN could not deploy, and Security Council mandates could not be delivered, without UN Volunteers,” said Olivier Adam, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme Executive Coordinator, recounting UNV’s value proposition in the words of UN partners, the Department of Field Support (DFS) and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), as he led a side event to the meeting of the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a global programme and a common service to the UN system administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). As we meet there are 4,200 UN Volunteers contributing to peace and development under various UN agency programmes around the world. This includes 350 volunteers in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and Egypt most of whom contribute to the regional response to the Syrian crisis. 

By Toily Kurbanov, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator, Management Services On Monday, 5 December the world will celebrate International Volunteer Day, designated by the United Nations in 1985 to applaud the inspiration of millions of volunteers throughout the world and their contributions to peace and development. 

Africa needs a people-led development pathway that puts the role of youth at the core of the continental development agenda. Thus concluded the colorful side event jointly convened by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the Africa Union Commission (AUC) on 26 August 2016 to head off the sixth Tokyo International Conference on Africa Development (TICAD VI) held for the first time in Africa, in Nairobi from 27 to 28 August 2016. 

Peshawar, Pakistan: My name is Hina Yousafzai and I am from Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in Pakistan. I am currently working as a UN Volunteer supporting the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Recovery Project carried out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the capacity of Reporting & Monitoring Associate based in Peshawar. Since early childhood, my life has been driven by two factors: my love for knowledge instilled in me by my parents, and my efforts at being understood and appreciated.

26-year old Tran Van Chuong frequently awoke to the telltale sounds of his neighbour's wife being beaten by her husband. Their arguments would start quietly but escalate quickly as his neighbour turned to physical brutality, leaving his wife bruised and scraped. This was not an uncommon problem in their urban community in Da Nang, a major central Viet Nam port city of one million people.

Gaza, State of Palestine:  Volunteers are catalysts of change and make important contributions to sustainable development – this is so aptly personified by Mona Ouda and Diana Abu Ramadan, two national UN Volunteers with UNDP’s rubble removal programme. Engineers and workers are part of this USD $ 14 million project to facilitate the removal of debris of destroyed homes and other civic infrastructure in The Gaza Strip. Four female engineers that include Mona and Diana are also part of this programme.

Brasilia, Brazil: Volunteerism is giving your time and expertise in exchange for knowledge, and the opportunity to be part of the changes you want to make in the world. I urge everyone to become a volunteer in any way you can. You can start by helping people in your own community, then you will be helping people from the whole country, and then, who knows, you may also be helping people from all over the world.