Following the successful implementation of the first phase, the AWHC initiative continues its mission of placing young African women professionals aged between 22 and 35 years as UN Volunteer health champions across WHO Country Offices in Africa. Through the initiative, WHO-AFRO and UNV commit to improving health for people on the continent, expanding opportunities for African public health professionals, and nurturing the next generation of women health leaders in Africa, while contributing to gender parity for the WHO workforce.

Jennifer Klem is from the United States of America. In 2021, she started her first assignment as an online volunteer and published two projects, UNICEF 2021 Global Gender Equality Results Report and a Gender Onboarding Brochure for the new staff in UNDP Liberia.

Joelma Pereira is an international UN Volunteer from Guinea Bissau. She is a Communications Officer with UNDP stationed with WHO in Mozambique. She takes pride in being a health champion, and documents key initiatives related to environmental health, climate change, and the misinformation about COVID-19 vaccinations. Joelma also oversees partnerships between WHO and different stakeholders in the health and humanitarian sector at WHO Regional Office for Africa. 

The UNDP Event Manager is a prime example of forward-thinking. It aims to make planning and holding events easier for UNDP through an accessible database of information, tools, and knowledge. There is increased and effective communication between participants and organizers, a reduction in costs, and more opportunities for networking. 

Sanou Ardiouma Brice is 42. He is a national UN Volunteer with UNODC in Burkina Faso and serves as a Legal Assistant for prison affairs at the Bobo Dioulasso Prison and Correctional Facility in the Hauts Bassins region.

Cécile Giraud is an international UN Volunteer from France. She serves as Gender-Sensitive Education Policy Analyst with UNESCO in Dakar. Her role is transversal, she says.

Maissa Abdellaoui is an international UN Volunteer with a French Algerian background who serves with UNICEF in Senegal. Under the Gender and Exclusion programme, Maissa provides technical support to women teacher networks, menstruation hygiene kits or best referred to as 'dignity kits' for schools and girls, and organization for support groups for girls. 

At 19, Deborah was forced to join an armed militia to fight ethnic groups in her native village in North Kivu Province in the DRC. Six years of witnessing devastation and the violent consequences of civil war, she decided to surrender weapons and opt for a peaceful life.

This project includes an effective blend of volunteer involving strategies with community volunteers, and national and international UN Volunteers. 

To mark IVD 2022, UN Volunteers lend support to APROJED under the Actions and Projects for Sustainable Development, an organization in Turunga, a Nyiragongo municipality on the outskirts of Goma.