At UNHCR, there is a saying: "Protection is what we do, and we do it through programmes." With a background in development management, I am privileged to put my knowledge and skills into practice as UN Volunteer Associate Programme Officer with UNHCR in Somalia. In my role, I support the team leader and Field Officer in the UNHCR Area of Responsibility where I serve, ensuring business and operational continuity, and meaningful engagements in support of the communities that we serve.

I joined UNHCR Kenya as a UN Volunteer in June 2018 and have just concluded my volunteer assignment. During this period, I worked closely with my colleagues at UNHCR Kenya in promoting sustainable cities and communities. Our aim has been to help and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people.

"My father and his family were forcefully displaced from Palestine to Jordan in 1948 when the state of Israel was established. My mother and maternal family fled from Palestine to Jordan during the Six Day War in 1967, this has inspired me to pursue a humanitarian career in service of refugees in particular," she says.

According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), one in every 78 people on earth is now displaced.

Following the adoption of the Global Compact on Refugees by the UN General Assembly in 2018, and in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNV launched a special initiative to facilitate the deployment of people of concern with UNHCR as Refugee UN Volunteers. This enables them to engage in an income generating opportunity which also assists them in building on their competencies and skills.

The 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the 1967 Protocol establish the rights of refugees and their responsibilities to host countries, as well as the legal obligations of States to provide protection. The theme of this year's World Refugee Day is the right to seek asylum.

According to UNHCR, there are more than 19,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 48 countries registered in Morocco (as of April 2022). Thus, Morocco is considered both a host and a transit country, which makes UNHCR’s mission crucial to ensure protection of refugees and access to asylum procedures. 

My Name is Emmanuel Chileshe Musonda, and I am currently serving as a UN Volunteer Health and Nutrition Associate at UNHCR's Kawambwa field office in the Mantapala refugee settlement. As a UN Volunteer, I mainly support the planning, implementation and analysis of health and nutrition projects in the refugee settlement. From a strategic standpoint, I provide technical guidance and programmatic recommendations on the overall design and focus of public health and nutrition programmes in the settlement. 

My role on a day-to-day basis consists of helping asylum seekers to substantiate their applications. This comprises interviewing asylum seekers in Morocco to find out why they request international protection and, based on their statements, evaluating their case to make a recommendation on whether their application should be accepted. 

The fourth State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR), Building Equal and Inclusive Societies, is designed to strengthen understanding on volunteerism and demonstrate its universality, scope, and reach in the twenty-first century.