I am an international UN Volunteer Communications Specialist from Ghana. My role with UNDP in Zambia involves connecting with people throughout the country to document stories of strife and triumph. What I value most in my work is storytelling and bringing to the fore voices of the ones not heard.

Understanding how climate change affects cities is crucial for finding sustainable cooling solutions with minimal energy consumption and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. This is an area of focus for the UNDP AccLab in North Macedonia — centered on innovation and collective intelligence.

Thibault's volunteering journey with the United Nations spanned from end of 2022 to early 2024. He supported, “Leveraging Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to Achieve net-zero emissions and climate-resilient Development, in Response to the Climate Emergency,” a project implemented in partnership between the Government of Japan and UNDP’s next phase of the Climate Promise: From Pledge to Impact.

With a graduate degree in Development Studies and previous experience in human rights, Saumya contributes her skills to causes around climate justice. As an Online Volunteer, her day-to-day work was a horizon-scoping exercise on existing tools for environmental human rights defenders and climate activists. This involved researching different tools and classifying them on the basis of their typology based and target areas.

To tackle infectious waste, the comprehensive healthcare waste management project was implemented in Myanmar, which provided health risk reduction to 8,105,310 beneficiaries. Nway Eint Chei was part of implementing the project. She gave technical inputs for comprehensive healthcare waste management training materials, monitored project progress, shared COVID-19 vaccination waste management knowledge, and prepared donor reports. 

Pakistani nationals serving UN Volunteers serving abroad bring a wealth of skills, and expertise varying from knowledge management, public information, medical field, human resources management, disaster relief efforts to engineering. During their assignments, they also transfer their knowledge to local communities and empower them. Responding to natural disasters

Lucy A Tilley, in collaboration with another Online Volunteer, Abdul Mustafazade, supported AccLab by designing communication materials, visuals and social media posts on collective intelligence, solidarity and crowd-mapping. AccLab disseminated these materials on the UNDP website and social media platforms. This helped raise awareness on climate action, sustainable development and sustainable water management while also increasing the participation of local people.

The impacts of climate change on people's lives and ecosystems cannot be ignored and are being felt in every corner of the globe. Not simply an environmental issue, it's a humanitarian crisis.  Shockingly, over the last five years alone, approximately 1.59 billion individuals have been affected by climate and weather-related disasters. As a result, around 130 million people have been forced to leave their homes and have become internally displaced.

Through concerted efforts in Central Asia, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) aims to expand the opportunities for women and girls, promote positive social norms by engaging men and establish comprehensive systems and mechanisms for women and adolescents. Héloïse Versavel, UN Volunteer Gender-Based Violence Specialist supports UNFPA in Kazakhstan. She has a background in Human Rights Law. 

The Community UN Volunteers were selected from 22 unions under Bandarban and Rangamati districts representing the marginalized group of ethnic minorities descending from tribal groups in the hard-to-reach terrains of Hill District Regions - 58% women. The volunteers began their assignments in December 2023 to support the multi-donor Local Government Initiative on Climate Change (LoGiC).