Under-Secretary-General for Management Ms Jan Beagle signed the agreement with UNV Executive Coordinator Olivier Adam.
This umbrella agreement facilitates the deployment of UN Volunteers to a variety of UN operations that fall under the auspices of the Secretariat and will help to streamline the deployment of UN Volunteers, both in the field and at headquarters locations, as well as the engagement of UN Online Volunteers.
With ongoing violent conflicts and tensions in many parts of the world, the United Nations Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is scaling up its efforts to build and sustain peace, while developing partnerships with organizations such as the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme to support peacebuilding initiatives in conflict-affected situations across the world.
From 2006 to 2017, the PBF allocated US $772 million to 41 recipient countries. The PBF works across pillars and supports integrated UN responses to fill critical gaps; respond quickly and with flexibility to political opportunities, and catalyze processes and resources in a risk-tolerant manner.
UNV is a strategic partner and efficient interlocutor of the PBF at the national/local levels through the mobilization of committed and skilled UN Volunteers in remote locations.
In the grip of armed conflict and persistent community violence since the coup d’état in 2013, the Central African Republic relies heavily on the contribution of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme to help promote peace and reconciliation in the country. Despite efforts towards social cohesion, the volatile security situation remains a predominant concern, with the risk of outbreak, escalation or recurrence of violent inter-community conflicts.
In communities hardest hit by conflicts, such as Bambari, Bangassou and Ndelé, UN Volunteers are at the heart of social cohesion, awareness raising, the restoration of state authority, capacity building activities or access to economic opportunities for populations suffering from the crisis.
It’s a sunny Saturday morning in Kalobeyei, Northern Kenya, close to the border with South Sudan. Two girls walk slowly towards a field where children are playing under the scorching sun. One is of Somali origin and the other from South Sudan. For them, Kalobeyei, one of the villages in the UN Refugee Agency's Kakuma Refugee Camp, has become their new home. Their faces illuminate a sense of peace, and in their eyes we can see hope. One can only wonder how much change these two girls, united by fate, have experienced in their young lives.
The case of these two doesn’t stand in isolation. According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), 31 people are displaced every minute across the globe.
In 2017 and 2018, Kenya ranked 125 and 123 respectively out of 163 countries in the Global Peace Index. Violence presents a challenge, particularly in Kenya’s border regions, where migration puts additional pressure on already marginalized communities, and in multi-ethnic communities during election periods. Threats of terrorism by groups such as Al Shabaab add to the tense situation.
For about four years now, 16 UN Volunteers have been helping build local capacities for lasting peace in 12 regional clusters across Kenya through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
UN Volunteears are serving under UNDP's Deepening Foundations for Peacebuilding and Community Security project and the joint programme for Strengthening National Capacities for Conflict Prevention of UNDP and the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA).
Gladys Gbegnedji is a Civil Engineer from Spain. Together with 14 other UN Volunteers and engineers, she is in Iraq to support UNDP reconstruction efforts in Mosul Governorate, in the areas liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The Funding Facility Stabilization of Iraq was established by UNDP in June 2015, to help newly retaken areas from ISIL to return to normal life. The programme is currently implementing more than 1,100 reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in 28 locations in Iraq.
Last week, I visited an elderly Iraqi couple in East Mosul. Their home was destroyed, like thousands of others, by ISIL, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Before peace returned to Mosul, this Iraqi family went through unimaginable hardships. When we met in their new home, rebuilt by many helping hands, I saw people who have regained their house and faith in the future of their children and grandchildren. This was a very touching and emotional experience.
Iraq has a long way to go towards peace and prosperity. The United Nations is doing its best to support the Iraqi people on this path and make the future bright for families like the one I met in Mosul. Behind this reconstruction, there is a lot of hard work done by UN agencies, local contractors and UN Volunteers. Among them is Gladys Gbegnedji, a civil engineer from Spain, who came to Iraq to help improve construction designs.
UNV East and Southern Africa office organized the first VConnect event to discuss pathways for climate action in Africa through innovative volunteerism in late 2018. VConnect is a series of innovative initiatives and conversations aimed at connecting volunteerism with key development issues.
Drawing from a recently published book by Dr Richard Munang, Regional Climate Change Coordinator for Africa at UN Environment (UNEP) titled “Making Africa Work Through the Power of Innovative Volunteerism”, the key take-aways of the inaugural event were:
Africa is at a demographic and development tipping point
Currently, Africa’s population stands at almost 16 per cent of the world’s total population. By 2050, the United Nations projects that Africa will account for half of the world population growth.
South-South Cooperation is embedded in UNV’s Strategic Framework 2018-2021. Working closely with partners, UNV facilitates South-South cooperation by deploying UN Volunteers and promoting the value of volunteerism for peace and development.
Volunteering and South-South Cooperation share common ideals that make them perfect partners: solidarity, respect and equality. Both have an opportunity to derive mutual benefit from their alliance. --UNV Executive Coordinator Olivier Adam
Volunteer programmes in the global South often seek to internationalize their efforts, but lack international networks and overseas partners and are not well integrated into the international development ecosystem. To address this above challenge, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, with the support of the Beijing Volunteer Service Federation (BVF), launched the project "Strengthening China’s Involvement in the Development of International Volunteer Service through South-South Cooperation and the Belt and Road Initiative".
Volunteer programmes are frequently not well integrated into their own country’s broader overseas national development programming, with potential partnerships with official mechanisms, national strategies and development actors (including the government, the private sector and the third sector) limited by a lack of trust and experience.