Connecting the dots through volunteering

Niels Vestergaard Knudsen, Chief, External Relations and Communications Section at UNV
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It’s 1981, a young German, Gudrun Merzenich travels from Germany to Sri Lanka to support a grassroots enterprise that helps local small-holder farmers. Gudrun is with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV). Volunteering shapes her future career choice – the service of others transpires into a medical career in Bonn.
 
Fast forward almost 50 years, Raoul Herbert, another German with UNV supports operations in the United Nations’ Ukraine crisis response and its spillover to neighbouring countries. Raoul assists displaced Ukrainians in humanitarian and development projects in Moldova. 
 
What binds the two Germans, Gudrun and Raoul – volunteering and UNV.
 

The volunteer organization of the United Nations is United Nations Volunteers, in short – UNV, which provides grassroots-level response in emergencies and local-level support to peace, humanitarian and development initiatives.

Are you listening? Every Girl Counts!

Christian Hainzl, UNV Regional Manager for Asia and the Pacific
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Our world is becoming increasingly digital and in this context, Online Volunteers play a significant role in tackling sustainable development challenges from any device, anywhere. Like they did in 2023 on a first large-scale Online Volunteering initiative aimed at addressing child marriage, a violation of human rights.

There are 290 million child brides in South Asia — the highest in the world, accounting for 45 percent of the global data. 

Since 2016, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have implemented a Global Programme to End Child Marriage in 12 of the highest prevalence countries — including Bangladesh, India, and Nepal.

Step it up for the environment

UNV Regional Office in the Arab States
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Nine Online Volunteers contributed to STEPping up Nature Reserves Capacity — STEP4Nature project for environmental preservation in Lebanon. From sustainable design to Artificial Intelligence (AI), these Online Volunteers came up with innovative ways for the sustainable management of Lebanon’s nature reserves.

Augustus Rivers Brightman is from the United States of America and has a background in Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies. His passion for design and environmental conservation led him to become an Online Volunteer.

"Remember the impact of volunteering" says UNDP Resident Representative

United Nations Volunteers
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For UN Volunteers environmental impact is important. And that's the message Armen Grigoryan, a former UN Volunteer currently United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in North Macedonia, gave while visiting United Nations Volunteers in Bonn. Reflecting on World Environment Day, he speaks of disaster risk reduction and environmental protection — topics close to his heart.

In an interview at UNV Headquarters, Armen Grigoryan shares, "Volunteering is a growing concept in North Macedonia as it contributes to the improved quality of life through the active involvement of people in social life.

UN Volunteers can advocate for the importance of volunteerism in the communities and workplaces especially in the support of public institutions, state bodies, local self-government units and the City of Skopje in many areas, as well the disaster risk management, environment protection issues, good governance and inclusion.

Diverse perspectives in security sector reforms in the Western Balkans

UN Volunteers in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (ECIS)
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Vesna Ciprus is a UN Volunteer Gender Equality Project Officer serving with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) South Eastern and Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC). Her volunteer assignment focuses on integrating gender equality in security sector reforms in the Western Balkans through a regional project titled ‘Strengthening of the Regional Cooperation in Mainstreaming Gender in the Security Sector Reform in the Western Balkans’.

Beyond its globally recognized work on small arms control, UNDP SEESAC advances gender mainstreaming in security sector reform by supporting regional cooperation among the Ministries of Defence of four Western Balkans countries — Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. 

Online Volunteers create cool climate solutions

Online Volunteers with UNDP AccLab
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Pauline Rukani, Isaac Koomson and Rabia Demirci are Online Volunteers engaged through United Nations Volunteers to support the activities of United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Accelerator Labs (AccLab).

Understanding how climate change affects cities is crucial for finding sustainable cooling solutions with minimal energy consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This is an area of focus for the UNDP AccLab in North Macedonia — centered on innovation and collective intelligence.

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