In 2016, 30 national UN Volunteers served in China to support the SDGs and inclusive development. 19 Chinese nationals served as UN Volunteers overseas to promote peace and development. 293 Chinese nationals volunteered online through UNV’s Online Volunteering service.

I lead the implementation of an Alternative Development Project launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Lao PDR. Through such projects, UNODC works with communities to develop ‘alternative’ sources of income that are both sustainable and licit.

The speed and scale of the influx has resulted in a critical humanitarian emergency, with refugees reliant on humanitarian assistance for food and other life-saving needs. Ashraful Islam is a national UN Volunteer supporting the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in developing women-friendly spaces, gathering data from the field and distributing medical kits. Girun Beyene, international UN volunteer from Sudan is serving with UNFPA in Bangladesh to incorporate disaggregated data into UNFPA Project documents.

The two-day conference is co-hosted by the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and the Beijing Volunteer Service Federation (BVF), and aims to continue building a strong Southern constituency and voice in international volunteering and co-create new ideas on how volunteering can be effectively mainstreamed to support national development priorities by low- and middle-income countries. It also aims to identify new opportunities for innovative partnerships to jointly overcome development challenges through international volunteering.

UNV with the special support of UNDP Sri Lanka under the Climate Change Adaptation Project (CCAP) joined hands with farm organizations, students of the Wayamba University, DMC Srilanka, the Volunteer Task Force and nearly 500 community volunteers to plant a select variety of trees on the riparian buffer of 10 selected tanks in the region of Galgamuwa Kurunegala.

What was once an informal network of helpers to people in need, many volunteers are now highly organized and play a fundamental role in humanitarian and development initiatives through organizations, clubs and groups that span the world. In recognition of the contributions they make, governments have taken steps to promote volunteer action by strengthening policies and institutions, and by increasing funding to support volunteer infrastructure. 

Many people in rural communities in Nepal have been living in cramped conditions in temporary shelters for the last two years, so Preity decided to volunteer to help build earthquake resilient homes for earthquake victims. Preity said, “After the devastating earthquakes hit Nepal in 2015, communities near the epicentre of the earthquake suffered a massive loss of lives, houses and livelihoods. Many people from the epicentre district of Gorkha needed support to start their life again, as they are not financially strong enough to build a new house for themselves.

According to Iran Red Crescent, at least 328 people have been killed and 3,950 injured. In Iraq, the Iraqi Red Crescent report that nine people have been killed and more than 425 injured.

The project came at a crucial time, because in recent years, the state has been failing to control the spread of HIV/AIDS, to the extent that the prevalence of the disease in Tripura has surpassed the national prevalence rate. Add to this societal taboos and misconceptions, and the situation is infinitely compounded.

In a crisis that killed 8,790 people and forced more than 700,000 into poverty, national UN Volunteers were mobilized to deliver critical assistance in affected sites in Nepal.