Dyah joined the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project as a UN Youth Volunteer in 2018. BIOFIN is a global partnership that addresses the challenges of biodiversity financing in a comprehensive way. This initiative provides an innovative methodology that enables countries to measure biodiversity expenditure in the medium term and identify financial solutions that are most suitable for bridging biodiversity and financial disparities.

The Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) is a global initiative under UNDP that currently operates in 41 countries to create sustainable financial solutions that not only protect biodiversity, but also let it flourish. As part of the initiative, Joshua Mabeta, a national UN Volunteer Research Assistant with UNDP, has been working to achieve the broader biodiversity conservation goal by developing the Biodiversity Finance Plan.

Fresh out of university, I was intrigued by a poster advertising for UN Volunteer assignments. I applied and was soon deployed to the National Parks Directorate in Chad from 1971-1974. My UN Volunteer experience benefited me enormously, both personally and professionally. First and foremost, I met my Chadian wife, with whom I have four wonderful children, all born in Chad.

"I started to get involved in the study and conservation of the Lomas because of my thesis. However, if I have been at it for four years, it is due to the people and organizations with whom I collaborate. United, we are achieving goals that, until recently, seemed too far away," María states soon after our interview begins. 

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.

This joint campaign is aimed at empowering young volunteers between the ages of 18-31, to raise awareness about, and have a voice in decisions around management, and use of mineral resources. The 70 selected ‘Young Environmental Journalists’ will work with the joint Swedish EPA-UNDP Environmental Governance Programme (EGP) to produce inspiring stories of change and build a strong network of young journalists and environmental and human rights defenders.

UNV has joined hands with several partners to protect the environment and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Shingirai is one of the talented cadres of committed volunteers deployed by UNV to catalyse and promote climate action in Gokwe South. As a UN Volunteer, Shingirai is in a unique position to mobilize communities and strengthen their resilience through alternative livelihoods, water provision and harnessing renewable energy in response to climate change impacts. --J. Mushosho, Programme Analyst, Environment and Climate Change, UNDP