UN Volunteer Yo Kunieda supported the work of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) in Fiji from March 2020 to March 2021. Her main contributions centred on a Small Island Developing States (SIDS) project, which supports small islands to better manage disaster and climate risk. 

In 2021, 164 UN Volunteers served with UNEP in Kenya in areas such as environmental law, communications, governance, and policy. As former UNEP Deputy Executive Director, Ms Joyce Msuya, said during International Volunteer Day 2021, UN Volunteers make important contributions to UNEP and around the world.

Through UNDRR’s virtual meetings, calls, and discussions, I have expanded my network and gained a greater understanding of how Sustainable Development Goal 11 – focusing on making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable – is implemented.

In Mozambique, one in three women suffered from violence in their lives in the pre-COVID-19 era. Different forms of abuse towards women and girls in many provinces of Mozambique have previously been recorded, especially in Chimoio, Mossourize, Gondola and Tambara districts of Manica province, where domestic violence and abuse cases against women are prevalent, with some resulting in death or loss of body parts.

Olga Tsaplina has joined UN-Habitat in Kenya as a Junior Officer for sustainable urbanization in August 2020. She has a background in political science and international relations and studied in Russia and Germany. UN-Habitat Human Rights and Social Inclusion Unit is responsible for the inclusion of the vulnerable urban population groups into programming and various other activities of the agency. Olga has been supporting the unit on several workstreams like developing the project documents, concept notes, reports and sometimes weekly event publications.

An 18-month project on responding to threats to peace and social cohesion, supporting the empowerment and promotion of women in Madagascar (REAP) was launched in early 2020. It is funded by the UN Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) to the tune of US $1.5 million and implemented by IOM and the UN Development Programme (UNDP). The REAP project has environmental and gender dimensions. Its objective is to support social cohesion between local and migrant communities.

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).

The Comprehensive School Safety (CSS) programme is an extension of the Government of Nepal’s School Sector Development Plan, and as such, provides a detailed roadmap on how to ensure a child’s right to access quality education in safe learning environments. My key duties in the capacity of a DRR Programme Officer were to monitor programme progress and provide technical support in a timely manner.

Most people remember where they were when the disaster struck. I was serving as UNV Programme Officer in Timor-Leste at the time, where hundreds of international UN Volunteers supported the nation-building efforts of the then-newest member of the United Nations family. On home leave celebrating Christmas with my family in Germany on that very day, I felt the urge to support the people in the affected areas.

In my current role as an Associate Compound Management Officer with UNHCR Somalia, I have been working closely with the UNHCR technical team in fast-tracking the construction of UNHCR accommodation and office facilities. Since I joined UNHCR, I have supported and coordinated efforts to ensure that the staff facilities are ready for occupancy within the stipulated timelines.