Invest in a woman, empower a community

UN Volunteers with UN Women, Iraq
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Investing in women, giving them a seat at the table and the opportunities to be in important decision-making roles offers multiple benefits for communities at large. This imperative resonates strongly with the work of UN Volunteers serving with UN Women in Iraq.

UN Volunteers Hawzhin Hussein, Noor Alhasany, Hajer Al-Sallami, and Ramia Al-Hakeem promote women's empowerment for a more inclusive and equitable society in Iraq.

Throughout the country, including in the Kurdistan region, they coordinate projects and manage initiatives aimed at empowering women across various sectors. Projects include education, healthcare, economic opportunities, and political participation for women.

Hawzhin, Noor, Hajer and Ramia emphasize that society cannot progress till dedicated investments are made in women-centric initiatives. 

Everyone needs to take action for gender equality

UN Volunteers with UNFPA, UN Women, UNDRR
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UN Volunteers serve alongside United Nations agencies on initiatives for gender equality and women's empowerment.  The story of Héloïse Versavel, Kerem Okan and Patricia Pella from Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States demonstrates that collective action is crucial in promoting the rights of women and girls.

Through concerted efforts in Central Asia, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) aims to expand the opportunities for women and girls, promote positive social norms by engaging men and establish comprehensive systems and mechanisms for women and adolescents.

Héloïse Versavel, UN Volunteer Gender-Based Violence Specialist supports UNFPA in Kazakhstan. She has a background in Human Rights Law. 

Narrowing the gender divide

UN Volunteers in the Arab States
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International Women's Day spotlights Sustainable Development Goal 5 focusing on gender equality. With the world facing crisis on multiple fronts, narrowing the gender divide becomes all the more important for creating prosperous, inclusive, and equitable societies. This is a story of three UN Volunteers supporting gender equality efforts in Jordan and Lebanon. 

Katrin Hermanek is an international UN Youth Volunteer fully funded by Switzerland. She serves as a Gender Equality Programme Analyst with UN Women in Lebanon. Her grassroots-level community service helps identify needs of women and girls. In coming up with solutions, a major emphasis is to ensure women get a decision-making role in their communities.

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Uzoamaka Anita Asiegbu
23.02.2024

Empowering Diversity: Uzoamaka's Impact on Gender and Inclusion in Nigeria

Addressing intersections of gender and disabilities

Vibhu Sharma, UN Volunteer Communications Specialist for Disability Inclusion
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Every year, International Women's Day recognizes and honours women’s rights and their achievements while also amplifying that societies cannot progress without achieving gender equality. Rightfully so, this year's theme centers on: “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”. 

Although Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5 for gender equality and International Women’s Day, instilling the spirit of the goal, do not explicitly focus on women with disabilities, they consistently focus on the empowerment of all women and leaving no one behind. 

How do we ensure that we empower all women across the board?

For that, it’s important to first look the entire picture.  

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Namchok Petsaen
22.02.2024

Namchok Petsaen: A Volunteering Journey

Gathering expert insights for the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report 2025

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The 2025 report aims to address the challenges faced in measuring volunteer work and bring clarity to the discourse on the scale and scope of volunteers' contributions. 

Over the last three months, UNV conducted three online exchange discussions on several topics through the Knowledge Portal. 

The discussions and consultations were strategically designed to gather expert opinions and insights to shape the State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2025.

Realities of the war: “We began to appreciate every minute, every moment.”

UNV partnering with UNDP
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As of January 2024, there are more than 6.3 million refugees from Ukraine globally and approximately 90% of Ukrainian refugees are women and children. Hanna Chepil is one of these displaced individuals, who had to leave her country and her husband behind.

When the war started on 24 February 2022, Hanna couldn’t believe this was happening to her country. The conflict was so sudden that nobody, including Hanna, was ready. After she realized the severity of the situation, she volunteered to help others.

“It is a great grief when children suffer, when rockets hit residential buildings and not only houses, and at night, when people are sleeping.” Hanna Chepil, UN Community Volunteer with UNDP Moldova

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