Call for volunteer representatives at the Global Technical Meeting

What does volunteering for the GTM entail?

The selected volunteers will be given roles including, but not limited to, the following:

Call for volunteer representatives at the Global Technical Meeting

What does volunteering for the GTM entail?

The selected volunteers will be given roles including, but not limited to, the following:

Safeguarding the environment and promoting eco-tourism in Lao PDR

UN Volunteers conserving energy, forests and biodiversity in West and Central Africa

Environment-related issues represent one of the most pressing challenges worldwide, especially in Africa. To help communities achieve these goals, UN Volunteers in West and Central Africa are supporting sustainable livelihoods programmes that are eco-friendly or focused on waste management and wildlife conservation. Meet four UN Volunteers engaging with communities in Liberia, the Central African Republic, Nigeria and Senegal.

Ronald Cumberbatch is an international UN Volunteer from Guyana, serving as an Energy and Environment Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Liberia. He has been supporting the Good Grow Partnership (GGP) programme for almost 3 years.

Launched in 2017, the GGP programme is aimed at reducing deforestation caused by mass production of global key commodities. It also focuses on facilitating strong supply chains and creating an enabling environment in support of sustainable production.

UN Volunteers build climate resilience in Comoros

Former UN Volunteer on advocating for gender equality in UN Peacekeeping efforts

Selvi Yurtalan is Chief Engineer with the UN Support Office in Somalia. She is also a former UN Volunteer Project Engineer with UN Peacekeeping and has served in five different UN missions over the years. In this blog, Selvi shares how she has been able to draw on her experience as a UN Volunteer in every stage of her career.

My work as UN staff member has been incredibly important in helping me develop new skills and qualities through peacekeeping missions, but the most valuable learning experiences came from my time as a UN Volunteer. This was challenging, inspiring, rewarding and demanding all at the same time and I’m sure will continue to influence my work for the rest of my life.

Nine UN Volunteers. Five countries. #ForNature.

Every year, hundreds of UN Volunteers provide critical support to United Nations entities in conserving the environment. For this year’s World Environment Day, we share an overview of the experiences of nine UN Volunteers from five countries in East and Southern Africa, working tirelessly to help save nature from extinction. Starting this World Environment Day, we will be sharing the stories of these UN Volunteers and the initiatives that they are engaged in, reminding all of us that it is time for humanity to work with nature and not against it, for our future.

Kenya

Lawrence Nzuve, Un Volunteer Communications and Outreach Officer, UN Environment (UNEP)

Former UN Volunteer on valuing the ancestral knowledge of indigenous communities

"For indigenous peoples, genetic resources are not simply technical terms or laboratory products, but specific elements of the earth, plants or animals," former UN Volunteer Sumak Bastidas explains. "It is essential that my people are aware of the legal rights they have over these resources, such as medicinal plants, and that governments and private corporations value the ancestral knowledge of native Latin American communities."

Sumak is a member of the Cacha community, part of the Puruwa nation in Chimborazo province, Ecuador. She began serving as a UN Volunteer as part of the partnership between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) in 2017, after working for women's rights in the Ecuadorian National Assembly.

Empowering youth entrepreneurs through online volunteering

The Youth Co:Lab regional team of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) is partnering with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in Asia and the Pacific to advocate for volunteerism and engaging with volunteers through UNV’s Online Volunteering system.

Online volunteers have been crucial to upscale the impact of Youth Co:Lab’s regional programmes. Coming from different countries and ethnicities, these online volunteers bring a variety of skills to the table. They have applied their skills and knowledge through a range of activities, including proofreading and translating communications materials, conducting research supporting COVID-19 related efforts. 

Supporting the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Bosnia and Herzegovina