Calling on YOU to join our Talent Pool! UNV is lining up skilled professionals to support UN entities – and through them UN Member States – in their COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. This includes key partners such as the UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM), World Food Programme (WFP) and World Health Organization (WHO).

I am beyond proud that as UN Volunteer I had an opportunity to contribute to UNESCO and joint UN in BiH response during the COVID-19, --Amila Planinčić, National UN Volunteer. In 2020, Amila assisted in conducting joint UNESCO-UNICEF Rapid Situation and Needs Assessment in Education, aimed at collecting and analyzing the immediate effects of the school closure on learning outcomes among students in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

I have served as an Online Volunteer with the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme, partaking in emergency mapping, women’s rights advocacy, NGO funding, creating learning opportunities for people in poverty, rare bird species conservation and much more. 

As Nepal began to shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak, myths and misinformation about the pandemic started spreading fast – through personal interactions and social media. To address this issue and to ensure the safety of all communities, the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme, together with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), UN Development Programme (UNDP), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Resident Coordinator's Office (UNRCO), formed the Volunteer for Action (V4Action) group, comprising 500+ volunteers from all seven provinces of Nepal.

During these past 10 months, while we were all facing a global crisis devastating our socio-economic systems, adaptation, resilience and solidarity have enabled us to respond.

Ashu Orock Ernestine from Cameroon, Danai Kudya from Zimbabwe and Francis Igiriogu from Nigeria serve as UN Volunteer Human Rights Officers with the OHCHR Liberia Country Office to address inequalities resulting from COVID-19 collateral damage. In June, the volunteers discovered that six pregnant students of a catholic secondary institution in Grand Geddeh County were barred from attending classes and even from taking the WASSCE exams, even though they were already registered.

Every day, millions of individuals across the planet engage in volunteer actions supporting development initiatives in order to improve conditions for others and for themselves, their families and communities.However, the full picture of volunteering is complex and often hidden as most volunteering is spontaneous, often times it is individual actions in response to a need which are hard to capture with a tendency to focus on formal and full-time volunteers.