In Malawi, the Spotlight Initiative (SI) was rolled out in 2019 and is being implemented jointly by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UN Women in six districts: Nkhata Bay, Mzimba, Dowa, Ntchisi, Machinga and Nsanje. 

What are your key responsibilities in this assignment?

While COVID-19 severely impacted the most vulnerable communities, its effects were also felt across UN programme countries, reversing many positive gains in sustainable development. To support countries and UN partners in their response to the pandemic, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme invested its resources to deploy UN Volunteers with partners, financed through its UNV Special Voluntary Fund.*

Communicating for gender equality Shukria Syed (UN Women, South Sudan) – contributing to SDGs 3, 4, 5 & 17) In South Sudan, Shukria Syed is applying her communications skills, as a UN Volunteer,  to help tackle the pressing needs for gender equality in the country. Her assignment with UN Women South Sudan has involved leveraging local means of communication to spread critical information. With her team, she has participated in messaging gender concerns via media platforms such as radio.

Following the outbreak of the pandemic in Kenya, 50 UN Volunteer health experts were deployed through a UN joint programme to support the COVID-19 response at county level, where the unexpected surge of infections had overstretched healthcare service-delivery capacity, impacting lives and livelihoods.

Angela Gregório António Chale Macie, UN Volunteer with WFP in Nampula, Mozambique Just a couple of months before COVID-19 spread across nearly every border in the world, Ângela Gregório António Chale Macie began serving as a United Nations Volunteer in Nampula, Mozambique. Little did she know just how critical her role would become for the people in Erati district when the Coronavirus endangered their already-limited access to food.