Improving the living conditions of internally displaced persons in Adamawa, North-East Nigeria
According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) of June 2018, the crisis in North-eastern Nigeria (now in its ninth year) “remains one of the most severe in the world, where human rights violations continue to be reported daily, and where the food security and nutrition situation remains concerning as conflict continues to limit the amount of land under cultivation.”
Guyaku, located in the Gombi Local Government Area of Adamawa State, is amongst the villages suffering from this humanitarian crisis. In the year 2013, the Guyaku village was attacked by insurgents. This led to the displacement of members of the community. In this situation, many have lost their lives, other their properties, leaving many women and children exposed to security threats and without any means of subsistence.
UNV and UNDP work together to provide income-generating activities for displaced people in North-East Nigeria
Massive displacements of people continue to take place with the intensified conflict in North-East Nigeria. A report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) of June 2018 underscores the need for action to support the internally displaced, especially women. The report emphasizes that 5,500,000 people are in need of assistance regarding early recovery and livelihood issues.
UNV and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are on the ground since early 2018, with funding support from the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO), to assist the communities affected by the humanitarian crisis. The Sengere community, located in the Adamawa State is one of them.
Ndachem Abubakar is one of the UN Community Volunteers who are deployed in 10 communities across crisis-affected North-East Nigeria, with a focus on Borno, Adamawa and Yobe States.
Jumpstarting economic recovery in the community of Sengere.
Facilitating access to finance for the displaced in conflict-hit areas in North-East Nigeria, with UNDP and UNV
The Mafoni community in Maiduguri, Borno State in North-East Nigeria, is among the communities most affected by the large-scale displacements due to the conflict in the region. This community has suffered from the insurgency, with many having lost loved ones and seen most of their livelihood assets destroyed. It is a community where internally displaced persons (IDPs) who are seeking protection and residence are living with or among the host community.
Despite the situation, Falmata Haruna Bwala did not hesitate to seize the opportunity offered by UNV to serve as a UN Community Volunteer on a UNDP project with funding support from the European Union Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (ECHO). She serves as a Village Supervisor in a region with many displaced and distressed communities, including the Mafoni community.
Falmata says that she has been inspired by one of Mahatma Gandhi’s quotes: “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others”.
Volunteerism and statistical production in the global South
In this blog, Isabel Schmidt, Executive Director of Statistics South Africa talks about the importance, as well as the challenges, of measuring the contribution of volunteerism in South Africa.
Tshepiso steps back and admires his handiwork. As part of his contribution to Mandela Day, he has painted the interior walls of a corrugated iron shack that serves as a crèche for young children in an informal settlement in Johannesburg. In the spirit of ubuntu, he regularly ferries his elderly parents, aunts and uncles to hospital or assists them with shopping. Just last weekend he repaired a broken kitchen cabinet door for his neighbour, Mrs Potts.
UNDP Executive Board Decision (2018/8) - See page 5 "> UNDP Executive Board Decision (2018/8) - See page 5
The Executive Board, Welcomes the organizational transformation of UNV in 2017-2018 and the decentralization of capacities and delegation of authority from headquarters to the regional and country levels, enabling UNV to be better ‘fit for purpose’ for its new Strategic Framework; Recalling decision 2017/31, paragraph 8, notes the importance of regular resources provided by UNDP to deliver on its Strategic Framework; Reaffirms the crucial role of the Special Voluntary Fund to the delivery of the UNV Strategic Framework, 2018-2021, calling upon all develop
2018 State of the World's Volunteerism Report The thread that binds - volunteerism and community resilience "> 2018 State of the World's Volunteerism Report The thread that binds - volunteerism and community resilience
The report explores how governments and development actors can best engage with volunteerism to nurture its most beneficial characteristics, while mitigating against potential harms to the most vulnerable. In doing so, the report provides an important contribution to the evidence base on inclusive, citizen-led approaches to resilience-building. The report is available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
Download the different language versions
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The scale and scope of volunteering globally
Volunteering is increasingly recognized as a significant resource for overcoming development challenges. Empirical data can document the contributions of volunteers, set benchmarks for evaluation, uncover important trends, and encourage policies that help promote volunteering. Today, UNV publishes a background paper as part of the 2018 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report project, that assesses the state of measurement of volunteering, and provides new estimations of the scale and scope of volunteering globally.
Volunteering is difficult to define and measure in a way that is comparable across borders or cultures. When volunteering has been measured, the focus has largely been on organization-based volunteering, rather than volunteering performed spontaneously and directly between people. Many stakeholders fail to recognize the importance of measuring volunteering, especially irregular volunteering, mainly due to the cost and the difficulties of getting a representative sample.