I was invited to deliver keynote remarks in front of you. I can do that. Or, I can ask us to pause and reflect about a future keynote speech that one of you may be asked to deliver to a youth audience in the year 2050. 2050 is when the world will mark mid-century. By that time, the 21st century’s identity will have been cast. And it is you—your generation—that will have a major role in casting this identity.

Education systems had already been under strain because of double-shifting and other adjustments to school schedules to accommodate rising numbers of students. Subsequent increases in education spending and a consistent effort aimed to keep pace with the demand for nutrition, health and second-chance learning services that disadvantaged students need most.

Nizar (24), Raymonda (28), and Zeinab (27) serve as UN Youth Volunteers in Water/Irrigation Engineering, assisting with the upgrade of existing irrigation infrastructure. “The project consists of the rehabilitation of existing damaged irrigation canals and the transformation of earthen canals to concrete canals,” Raymonda explains. In many regions of the country, very old earthen canals used to transmit water to agricultural lands cause massive water losses.

Despite high enrollment rates in formal education, youth (aged 15-24) unemployment in Jordan is 37.4 per cent, more than double the world average. Unemployment of young Jordanian women is even greater.  Jordan is one of the countries worldwide with the lowest levels of female participation in the workforce, with 40 per cent of women aged 15-24 and 55 per cent of women aged 25-39 unemployed.

To achieve this, new development patterns must be inclusive, resilient and advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. By weaving a strong social fabric within communities, volunteering is at the key intersection of these qualities. When those with local knowledge and insights take collective ownership of local problems, communities are uniquely mobilized around development efforts.

These are just examples of why gender equality matters in the context of COVID-19, emphasizing the need to ensure the world’s response to the pandemic is gender-sensitive.

To support UNHCR in delivering its mandate, more than 310 UN Volunteers have served with in the Arab States during the period 2016-2019, over 50 per cent of them women. This group of diverse and well-trained practitioners strengthened UNHCR’s capacity to provide protection and critical emergency assistance for refugees, instilling hope and trust in hard times.

A total of 185 women UN Volunteers have served with UNAMID since 2008 and UNISFA since 2012 in a multitude of fields, including medicine, health, engineering, finance, technology and supply chains. Comprising no more than 25 per cent of the total UN Volunteer workforce supporting these two missions, women have been handling challenging tasks and benefiting the communities they serve. Irene Haroub (Zimbabwe), a UN Volunteer HIV/AIDS Trainer/Counselor with UNAMID, hopes the impact of her work will benefit mothers and communities in Darfur for many years to come.