Nairobi, 8th December 2021 – For its 50th anniversary, the UNV programme celebrated volunteers across the world through national volunteer Awards. Kenya was one of the countries selected to host the Awards under the national Volunteer of the Year Awards (VOYA).

We live at a time of disruption, witnessing the effects of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatens to reverse progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The complexity of the issues we need to address on this path demands that we all work together, in much broader partnerships, connecting various areas of expertise to develop integrated development solutions.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations system-wide service provider. Our mandate is to enable talented and dedicated volunteers to help the United Nations system deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In doing so, we are intentional in recruiting volunteers with disabilities. For a long time, we have worked together with our partners to achieve more inclusive development outcomes. Additionally, we are now working to make the United Nations system itself more inclusive and diverse.

Working with persons with disabilities is not new for the United Nations system. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) identifies and protects the rights of persons with disabilities. We must uphold these rights in our peace, development and humanitarian work.

Persons with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world. In Latin America and the Caribbean, they represent around 13 per cent of the population (Source: Inter-American Development Bank).

A world full of fairness, agility and justice Jean-Rufin Doguela Gbogola is a national UN Volunteer Monitoring and Reporting Assistant with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the Central African Republic.  My assignment is focused on monitoring and reporting a joint youth project, which aims to promote the socioeconomic resilience of young people in the country, by creating emergency jobs and entrepreneurship training.

I joined the UNDP Kazakhstan team in 2020. For me, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities has always been a day closer to sadness, arousing memories of being excluded from society due to my disability. Therefore, when my interview for this UN Volunteer assignment was scheduled close to the day, I felt this was ironic.  However, I was successful, and since the start of the assignment, my perspective on how the world sees people with disabilities has changed.

Milanka Nikolic is a national UN Volunteer Human Rights Associate with OHCHR in Serbia. Her assignment is fully funded by the Government of Sweden.  Her involvement in volunteering and interest to learn more about human rights and UN core values led her to join the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme.   My work area has always been activism, primarily for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, alongside promoting media literacy and social media education.

According to UN Women, one in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, mostly by an intimate partner. The situation has deteriorated since the outbreak of COVID-19. Calls to helplines reporting violence have increased five-fold in some countries, and in Lao PDR, the Women’s Union Counselling and Protection Centre have reported a significant increase in the number of calls they have received. COVID-19 has not only increased the likelihood of violence, but has strained essential services, making it even more difficult for women to get support.

What motivated me to serve as a UN Volunteer was my desire to learn and to contribute to the important work of the United Nations. It is inspiring that the programme provides such opportunities to young and emerging professionals like me.