It's summer and in the sweltering heat of Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, we sought refuge in a tranquil, shaded area. I was about to take an interview. A conversation with a young community member. The interview quickly turned into a heart-to-heart. Nineteen-year-old, Debbie Chinochema, looked me in the eye, smiled intermittently, before sharing her journey. It was a story of surviving stigma to becoming a community champion, and then evolving into a strong voice for adolescents living with HIV.

To get back on track, the report highlighted that urgent actions are needed to change course and reimagine our futures. These actions must be collective, strategic and evidence based.     

Through the UNDP Transitional Justice project funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, UNDP South Sudan has been collaborating with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the Greater Bahr El Ghazal; Greater Equatoria and Greater Upper Nile areas to ensure that the voices of South Sudanese are included and heard in all processes. The CSOs have been using their communication channels to provide information about the transitional justice mechanisms to communities of victims and survivors of conflict.

I am a student at the Kwansei Gakuin University in Hyogo in International Relations. I was always curious about digital information and how technology affects people's lives. I believe as young people we are evolving with new technologies. Gender gap exists. Very few women are given the opportunity to explore their talent. We must bring everyone into the fold of fold, men and women to create solutions and come up with innovations.

For Zambians, food insecurity is an urgent issue. Around 18 per cent of the country’s rural population require urgent action to protect their livelihoods. A further 15 per cent are only marginally able to meet their food needs, while three per cent of the country’s 17.8m people are already facing considerable food gaps.

Covid hit. Everything shut down. I had a job in Egypt but wanted an international perspective, so I started looking for opportunities, and then one day I landed in Somalia. It was April 2021 and amidst the ongoing unrest in the country around that time, I thought to myself – my international volunteer experience is going to end before it begins. A feeling of risk started to settle in. I made sure that my runaway bag was ready.

I am the focal point of UPSHIFT with UNICEF. which aims at youth social innovation.  

Your Excellency, Minister of Youth and Sports, dear friends and colleagues, The person speaking on the video like a robot was me.  The message was to the global audience. Today I would like some personal remarks for you, UN Volunteers in Somalia. I came here to present personal greetings not only from myself, as the Executive Coordinator, but also from 13,000 UN Volunteers around the world. We know of you, we hear about you and we appreciate all what you do.

With nearly ten years in the United Nations system and some eight years working directly with vulnerable refugee and asylum-seeking populations, I value my service to UNHCR's international protection mandate.  UNHCR in Somalia works with government and stakeholders to provide humanitarian assistance, and advance peace and development in priority areas of return and reintegration.

Everyone has the power to make a difference in the world. Driven by this conviction, I started my UN Volunteer assignment with the UN's Refugee Agency, UNHCR in Somalia. The humanitarian context grapples with multiple displacement complexities.  I am stationed in Hargeisa in Somaliland. I am deeply involved in the collection, management, and analysis of data on persons of concern, including asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, and internally displaced people.