At the time of the earthquake, more than 70 UN Volunteers were serving with 10 UN partners in some 19 duty stations across Myanmar. About one-third of these volunteers are now part of the recovery efforts on the ground with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The guiding principle here was to recruit local volunteers who knew their communities and were from within the system. 

Following the 2011 revolution in Libya, Amera got an opportunity to coordinate educational programmes for underprivileged children in Tripoli. She then took up a UN Volunteer assignment with UN Women.

How to Deploy UN Volunteers To initiate UN Volunteer recruitment, UNV requires a Description of Assignment (DoA) which serves as Terms of Reference/Job description of the assignment and Service Request Form (SRF)/Funding Authorization. DoA and SRF templates are available online. Click Here.

Are you ready to volunteer and support the UN efforts in Myanmar? Discover national UN Volunteer opportunities to support the humanitarian response to the earthquake in Myanmar.   Click here to view the assignments in Myanmar  

"After months of uncertainty, of longing for home, today is the day I return. This journey has been filled with challenges, resilience, and hope. Each step back home brings a flood of memories—some painful, some warm. Displacement is more than just leaving a place; it’s leaving behind a part of yourself. The streets feel familiar yet different, carrying the weight of what was lost and the promise of what can be rebuilt.

Compassion, commitment, impact—these are not just words for Okba Doghim—they describe his motivation to volunteer.

As Data Entry Assistant, Reem’s role involves managing grievances under the Emergency Social Safety Net program. She diligently addresses beneficiary grievances and ensures timely resolutions. “I work with various types of data related to grievances, cash assistance distributions, and beneficiary feedback. This data is used to identify trends, monitor program effectiveness, and inform decision-making processes,” notes Reem.

Tetiana Mykytenko serves with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Czechia. She wanted to do something positive even as things looked bleak in her home country, Ukraine. She sought refugee in Czechia and that's when she joined UNHCR as a UN Volunteer Refugee Community-Based Protection Assistant. 

The volunteer organization of the United Nations is United Nations Volunteers, in short – UNV, which provides grassroots-level response in emergencies and local-level support to peace, humanitarian and development initiatives.

Six months on, the war continues unabated.  Declared one of the deadliest conflicts in centuries on civilians and infrastructure, the evidence keeps multiplying on numerous cases of international humanitarian law violations, including against humanitarians and volunteers.