In the area of basic social services, UNV’s partners have requested volunteers knowledgeable and experienced in: primary health care, HIV/AIDS prevention, vulnerability and rights, women’s empowerment, democratic governance, population policy and administrative management, reproductive health, gender equity, safe motherhood, gender-based violence, national planning, child protection, universal primary education, community health workers, vocational training specialists and inclusive participation of citizens in local development cycles.

UNV has worked on many development projects and peace contexts with qualified medical doctors and other health-related professionals. These skilled professionals in medical and health services are often deployed to many locations throughout a country and provide immediate medical care to the local population and UN staff.

Volunteerism in peacekeeping and peacebuilding contributes to interventions in post-conflict environments addressing short-term, early recovery emergency needs in addition to building local and national capacities and understanding between states and its citizens to rebuild mutual trust.

In the priority area of community resilience for climate change and disaster risk reduction, the critical involvement of volunteers has been in disaster risk management, particularly by strengthening the capacity of communities to respond to and prevent disasters.

Supporting the operations of various UN agencies in humanitarian assistance and emergency relief, UN Volunteers engage in a wide range of assignments with the ultimate aim to save and protect the lives of people such as refugees and internally displaced persons, to alleviate suffering and to maintain human dignity.

National UN Volunteers come from all walks of life. In the health sector UNV’s partners have requested volunteers knowledgeable and experienced as general medical practitioners, medical specialists and doctors specialized in public health; staff counselors and psychologists; midwives and nurses, dentists, pharmacists and laboratory technicians.

Through the Online Volunteering service, UNV offers: 

Acknowledging that traditional means of implementation need to be complemented by participatory mechanisms that facilitate people’s engagement, the 2030 Agenda explicitly names volunteer groups as actors in their own right among the means of implementation. Volunteer groups can be brokers of engagement, connecting institutional initiatives with volunteer action at community level and strengthen local governance.

The 2030 Agenda explicitly names volunteer groups as actors in their own right among the means of implementation. Volunteer groups can be brokers of engagement, connecting institutional initiatives with volunteer action at community level and strengthen local governance. Volunteers can facilitate and support people’s engagement in planning, implementing and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), thereby fostering local ownership and leveraging innovative development solutions from the ground up.  

UN Volunteers are often at the forefront of humanitarian response, because the skills and expertise they bring to help alleviate the plight of people in desperate situations. Also, their volunteer commitment, local knowledge and neutral status facilitate building bridges between  stakeholders in affected communities by promoting mutual trust, enhancing ownership and building capacity.