Education is one of six themes at the centre of the GRF, critical to the support of refugees and the countries that host them. The Spotlight Session focused on tertiary education for refugees, through a conversation about how barriers are being overcome, how interventions are improving the quality or expanding the quantity of opportunities available, and ultimately, how higher education pathways can support self-reliance and solutions for refugees.

The UNHCR-UNV DAFI Initiative seeks to expand the success of the DAFI programme by addressing the difficulties that graduated refugees face when trying to enter the job market. The Initiative constitutes an opportunity for the DAFI graduates to gain professional experience as UN Volunteers in the UN System, where they can contribute with their unique background and perspectives to help achieving the SDGs.

With the agriculture sector absorbing nearly 30 per cent of the country’s labour force, while providing livelihoods to 70 per cent of the country’s rural population, a majority of our communities are at the unrelenting mercy of inevitable climate shocks.  The Mahaweli River Basin, the largest draining area of Sri Lanka’s extensive collection of rivers, is home to a large proportion of the small rain-fed farming communities on the island. And, unsurprisingly, climate shocks have exacerbated the prevalent poverty and food insecurity within these communities. 

From 19 to 20 November 2019, stakeholders from volunteer-involving organizations, civil society, academia, governments and United Nations entities met in Ouagadougou, to discuss how volunteerism can contribute to peace and development in the Sahel region. The roundtable was initiated by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, in collaboration with the African Institute for Economic Development and Planification (IDEP) and the International Organization of La Francophonie (OIF), to produce evidence of the impact of volunteerism in the Sahel. 

On the occasion of IVD, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has highlighted initiatives that include more people in sustainable development through volunteerism. One such initiative is the new UN Community Volunteer category, which enables more people to participate directly in social, environmental and economic change.

Olga acquired her physical-motor disability at the age of 13 due to muscular dystrophy, and since then, her wheelchair has become her ally. She has had to face social, attitudinal, architectural, and transport barriers that at certain times have hindered her full development and participation in social activities. All these challenges make her think that disability is not so much in the person but in the obstacles interfering with its independence and ability to function in society.

The UNDP-UNV Talent Programme for Young Professionals with Disabilities was launched in January 2018. With a commitment to leave no one behind, it promotes the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workforce of the United Nations.  In 2019, 31 UN Volunteers with disabilities, including 15 deployed under the Talent Programme, served across the UN family. Many more UN Volunteers supported the provision of services to persons with disabilities.

Through my volunteer assignment I support and develop workplaces for people with disabilities. Fundamentally, my goal is to remove barriers to employability for disabled people in Belarus, by educating employers on how to create accessible and inclusive working environments. Belarus signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in September 2015 and committed to the creation of an inclusive community. Despite this undertaking, progress has been slow.

On 29 March 2017, Peru woke up with a state-declared National Emergency in the northern part of the country. The coast had been severely affected due to the floods caused by the phenomenon ‘El Niño Costero’, where more than 1,000,000 people were affected and 200,000 people fell victim at a national level, leading to one of the most serious crises the country has faced in the last few years.

As an international UN Youth Volunteer fully funded by the Czech Republic, Tereza dedicated most of her time at MiLab to designing technology-based solutions to address development challenges in the country. Her work involved projects such as digital education for Moldovan children, using behavioral science to reduce plastic and energy consumption, utilizing Big Data for urban development, and introducing blockchain-based solar power solutions for public institutions.