On Wednesday, they joined dozens of other volunteers who piloted bass boats, jet skis and aluminum dinghies through the caramel-colored floodwaters of west Houston to ferry hundreds of residents to safety, part of an impromptu flotilla that has played a prominent role in the recovery from the worst storm to hit Texas in more than 50 years. “I usually just use this boat for drinking beer,” said Sparkman as he steered his flat-bottomed boat around submerged pickup trucks. “But we come together when we need to - that’s what Texans do.”

Many families in a little village close to Funhalouro in the southeast of Mozambique are receiving food assistance that is helping them to survive. “We have lived through many dry periods, but a drought like this one I cannot remember. I have not seen a single drop of rain for months,” says Joaquina, who does not know her age, but estimates she is in her late 40s.

Just from the other side of the San Juanico bridge in Leyte, lives a man named Oscar, a local resident of Samar, the first island to be struck by typhoon Haiyan in November 2013. Despite the aftermath conditions and turmoil that surrounded him, Oscar remained optimistic and decided he would find a way to serve his community.

The online space features original research, new insights, and opportunities to collaborate in the lead up to the 2018 launch of State of the World's Volunteerism Report. It pulls together a picture of what is happening in the world in terms of volunteering and brings together the voices of key players in peace and development efforts.  What are the latest trends in volunteering? What is the contribution of the work that volunteers around the world are doing? What do experts, government officials, volunteers have to say about taking volunteerism forward?

Six years ago, Japan faced a paralysing triple disaster: a massive earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdowns that forced 470,000 people to evacuate from more than 80 towns, villages, and cities. While in some coastal cities, no-one was killed by waves that reached up to 60 feet; in others, up to ten percent of the population lost their lives.

In March 2015 there was huge excitement as UN Member States agreed on the first of the three core 2030 development agendas - the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR).

UN Climate Change, in collaboration with United Nations Volunteers (UNV), is conducting an ambitious and innovative campaign to mobilize over 650 volunteers to assist in the delivery of this year’s conference. The call for volunteers has attracted a flood of interest. Since registration opened on Monday 18 September, over 6,000 applications have been submitted. This is the first time that volunteerism has been integrated into the planning and delivery of UN climate conferences on such a large scale.

UN Climate Change, in collaboration with United Nations Volunteers (UNV), is conducting an ambitious and innovative campaign to mobilize over 650 volunteers to assist in the delivery of this year’s conference. The call for volunteers has attracted a flood of interest. Since registration opened on Monday 18 September, over 6,000 applications have been submitted. This is the first time that volunteerism has been integrated into the planning and delivery of UN climate conferences on such a large scale.

In partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) deployed 41 national and international UN Volunteers, 5 of them UN Youth Volunteers, to serve in environmental initiatives in Africa. Youth volunteers are the backbone of environmental action, raising awareness on climate change, responsible consumption and production, and preservation of land, forests and water resources.

I am currently serving as an international UN Youth Volunteer in Agricultural Economics with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Hanoi, Viet Nam. I’m one of the six UN Youth Volunteers fully funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in 2017.