In Lebanon, three national UN Volunteers, Vicky Kendirjian, Lara Riachi and Rim Kalfayan, joined the Office of the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs (OMSWA) to support the latter and the Lebanese government in addressing priorities pertaining to women's affairs. Promoting the advancement of the status of women in all areas of life, especially in terms of political participation, directly contributes to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. 

Finally, we are reaching our destination, after nearly 700 kilometers on a bumpy road. The jeep approaches a small town laid in the midst of the endless steppe. There we meet E., an elected representative from a Citizens’ Representative Hural, which is the name for local self-governing bodies in Mongolia.

EDUCATION AND EMPOWERMENT KEY IN CONFLICT SITUATIONS Hassane Abdoulsalamou has been serving as a national UN Volunteer with IOM since November 2016. He supports a project for the empowerment of youth in Niger (AJPANI), which offers youth at risk of conflict opportunities to develop through socio-economic participation and mechanisms faciliting participation in decision-making and peacebuilding

In 1999, two large humanitarian crises were unfolding: Kosovo and East Timor. The United Nations was tasked to support local authorities in both places to establish administrative and governance structures.

Ann Kamunya is an international UN Volunteer with UNHCR in Ankara, Turkey, where she she joined as a UN Volunteer Associate Refugee Status Determination Officer in December 2016. This is not Ann's first volunteer experience. Prior to Turkey, she served with UNHCR as a national UN Volunteer in Nairobi and then in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya, delivering for refugees who had been forcibly displaced from their home countries due to war or persecution.

Since August 2017, close to 700,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, creating the world’s largest refugee camp in an area that was before a forest on the border with Myanmar. According to UNFPA, more than half of the new arrivals are women and girls. To respond to the sharp increase in pregnant women, new mothers and newborns in need of care, five UN Volunteers are now serving with UNFPA in Bangladesh. 

In its Global Trends report, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that there were 68 million forcibly displaced persons in the world at the end of 2017, half of whom were under the age of 18. People leaving their homes for the unknown, in hope of finding a safer and more secure future, are often triggered by the ravages of war, famine, political instability and the deleterious effects of climate change.

In its Global Trends report, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reports that there were 68 million forcibly displaced persons in the world at the end of 2017, half of whom were under the age of 18. People leaving their homes for the unknown, in hope of finding a safer and more secure future, are often triggered by the ravages of war, famine, political instability and the deleterious effects of climate change.

Refugee children, the hope and future of Chad and the Central African Republic Thousands of refugees from the Central African Republic fled to southern Chad since the end of 2017, many of whom lack food, shelter and access to medical care. They settled in more than 40 villages and four camps near the town of Goré – an area that already hosts around 43,000 refugees from the Central African Republic and 45,000 returnees from Chad, predominantly women and children. 

Kakuma was founded in 1992 when large numbers of Sudanese and Ethiopian refugees poured into northern Kenya. There are 500,000 refugees and asylum seekers in Kenya. Most of them live in two huge camps in the East and North of the country – Dadaab and Kakuma. In January 2018, more than 185,000 refugees resided in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Residents of the camp suffer from a harsh, dry climate and a higher population than current capacities allow.