Since 2007, more than 95 UN Volunteers have been engaged with OCHA in Latin America and the Caribbean and 30 in Europe and Central Asia. In Ukraine, OCHA successfully used UN Volunteers to scale up its humanitarian response to COVID-19 in the face of escalating needs. 

Ezat Ullah’s family hails from Koz Kunar in Nangarhar Province, in the eastern part of Afghanistan. The family fled to Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province (now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) in the 1980s, during the Soviet-Afghan War. His seven siblings, three sisters and four brothers, were also born and raised in Pakistan. In the refugee camp, Ezat and his siblings pursued an education and later, Ezat went on to obtain a Master’s degree in International Relations from Bahria University in Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad.

Following the adoption of the Global Compact on Refugees by the UN General Assembly in 2018, and in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNV launched a special initiative to facilitate the deployment of people of concern with UNHCR as Refugee UN Volunteers. This enables them to engage in an income generating opportunity which also assists them in building on their competencies and skills.

According to UNHCR, there are more than 19,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 48 countries registered in Morocco (as of April 2022). Thus, Morocco is considered both a host and a transit country, which makes UNHCR’s mission crucial to ensure protection of refugees and access to asylum procedures. 

It is estimated that more than 1.32 of 6 million Venezuelan refugees and migrants are in Peru (

My role on a day-to-day basis consists of helping asylum seekers to substantiate their applications. This comprises interviewing asylum seekers in Morocco to find out why they request international protection and, based on their statements, evaluating their case to make a recommendation on whether their application should be accepted. 

"It takes a village to raise a child. Same goes for peacekeeping."  Silvia Kavrochorianou (Moldova), UN Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer with UNMISS

Hayfa and Mohamed were both among the finalists of the UNV50 Tunisia Volunteer Award for their "innovation to inspire new forms of volunteering". Applications received for this category exhibited the different forms of creativity that volunteers used as pathways to drive inclusion and growth. But these two names stood out. Not only due to the creativity and innovative problem-solving their work demonstrated, but also their remarkable ability to engage other volunteers.

UNFPA has been active in Ethiopia since 1973 and is working with the government, UN entities and partners to improve sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning, emergency obstetric care and fistula treatment. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed significant pressure on health service delivery and compounded existing challenges in promoting gender equality and improving maternal health. 

As a national UN Volunteer Medical Officer based at the Inter-agency UN Clinic, I support efforts to promote a wellbeing economy and culture in the UN system in Zambia. Human wellbeing, equitable access to healthcare and ecological sustainability are key deliverables that I strive for in my day-to-day work. I believe that the key to a healthy lifestyle is in the mantra of giving: "there is more happiness in giving than in receiving".