In May this year, the UN General Assembly officially declared 30 September, International Translation Day.

When I was accepted for the assignment to develop content about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Colombia, I was very excited. For 17 weeks, I was expected to create social media posts about each of the 17 SDGs, share information, facts, photos, statistics and/or videos about SDGs in Colombia. Since I am Mexican, I also included content from my own country.

The month of December was passing by and my sadness had turned into depression. At that moment, I had lived outside of Venezuela for almost two years, since I, like many other young people from my country, felt the need to look for opportunities beyond our borders. However, in my case, my stay in Colombia had become more challenging than expected: I couldn’t find a job where I could utilize my skills and professional knowledge, and I was quite far from content.

Karol Alejandra Arámbula Carrillo (Mexico) has been a Online Volunteer since 2011. One of her motivations to join UNV’s Online Volunteering service was the desire to help organisations in other countries carry out their work, especially in the field of gender equality. 

Through the Online Volunteering service, UNV offers: 

Maria Paula Fernandez Morel is a Online Volunteer Spanish Translator with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Argentina. 

A fully redesigned website for our Online Volunteering service was launched on July 15, 2016. Music: Purple planet (https://www.purple-planet.com/).

Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire:  In June 2014, 500 highly qualified and committed young Africans arrived in the United States to participate in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI). Among them was Online Volunteer Jordan Sera from Côte d’Ivoire. Launched by President Barack Obama in 2010,YALI is a United States Department of State initiative aimed at educating and promoting networking among young African leaders. This includes a fellowship to study in the United States for several weeks.