I am currently serving as an international UN Youth Volunteer in Agricultural Economics with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Hanoi, Viet Nam. I’m one of the six UN Youth Volunteers fully funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in 2017.

As many as 68 per cent of women and girls aged 15-49 in Asia and the Pacific face some form of violence in their lifetime. This is one of the highest levels reported in the world.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) has been supporting implementation of the United Nations Plan of Action on Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience in South and East Asia and the Pacific since 2014.

In 2013, UNV, the Government of India, and UNDP launched a flagship initiative to provide help young people to reach their full social, economic and human potential, while instilling a strong sense of civic engagement facilitating greater youth participation in achieving sustainable development goals.

People around the world are facing an interconnected array of social, environmental and economic barriers to sustainable development. In this landscape, solutions for economic and human development require collaborative efforts by multiple sectors of society such as the private sector — a key player in the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). When knowledge, technical expertise and innovative practices are applied to community investment, aligning economic development with human development, everybody wins.

“I served with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. My six-month assignment helped me gain many invaluable experiences that contributed to my personal and professional growth,” says Karinda Chuntavorn, a UN Youth University Volunteer in Resource Mobilization. Her assignment was supported by the Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS) and the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Home Affairs Bureau (HAB).

V-Force volunteers “discover their passion” for community development

As one of the thirteen women who served as engineers in the demolition and debris management operations of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Anima supported the earthquake-affected areas by using her skills in a traditionally male-dominated field. “Engineering is for boys while girls are supposed to study management and work in banks,” she recalls her uncle as saying when she was still a student asking for career advice years ago.

Hindprabha mobilizes youth in the district, and talks about her volunteer work: “Over the last year, 16 community youth volunteers were mobilized to work in Palghar district. We focus our efforts on reducing malnutrition deaths in the district. We help identify acutely malnourished children and refer them to a care center. We also help create awareness in the community about causes and ill-effects of malnutrition.”

Toney talks about the situation, “Open defecation poses a serious threat to the health of children in India, with 188,000 children under the age of five dying of diarrhea in the country. I took the risk and without any financial support for advance planning, took on the challenge of mass mobilizing community youth volunteers.” One of the hardest areas to reach is Variyam, a small tribal village nestled in thick forests.