You were the 100th United Nations Youth Volunteer (UNYV) deployed by SEF. What is your assessment of this young talent promotion programme?

UN Volunteers in Timor-Leste were at the heart of the humanitarian mission, supporting displaced communities. Heavy rains in early April had caused flash floods that affected the livelihoods of over 25,700 households in 13 municipalities across the country.  

At the end of October 1970, I received a request from the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to advise on the establishment of a United Nations Volunteer Service (UNV). The background to this request was that I had been instrumental in the establishment of the German Voluntary Service in 1962 and later served as one of the directors of the Service from 1966-1969.

UN Volunteers are serving with IOM as Staff Welfare Counsellors to support and ensure staff mental health and wellbeing. These mental health professionals reach out to staff affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including those impacted by organizational restructuring and temporary suspension of projects/programmes, and others engaged in the response. They are a crucial part of the wider Staff Welfare service.

According to Mr Aouale Mohamed Abchir, the UNDP Resident Representative in Benin, the action of UN Volunteers in providing medical care and psychological support allows more than 10,300 detainees to exercise their right to health.  UN Volunteers are the first players in this project. Their work contributes directly to the good health and wellbeing of the prison population, reduces inequalities, and helps leave no one behind. --Aouale Mohamed Abchir, UNDP Resident Representative

During the mission, Mr Kurbanov reiterated UNV’s support to the priorities of the UN Development System in China, as agreed for the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2021-2025). Accordingly, UNV will enhance volunteer mobilization and knowledge exchange for the advancement of South-South Cooperation, localization of the SDGs, youth empowerment and environmental protection, among other priority areas of engagement.

Since the onset of COVID-19, online content and social media have become more important forms of public communication than ever.

Saúl arrived in South America full of enthusiasm for this project. He was eager to put his professional and educational background in applied social research and data analysis at the service of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), especially, SDG2, achieving zero hunger. As part of the Resilience and Emergency Team within FAO, Saúl loved the idea of being able to contribute to increasing agricultural production with a resilient approach, emphasizing collaboration with vulnerable rural communities.

The campaign will call on UN Volunteers to submit videos about the work they carry out with UN entities around the world to achieve the SDGs. These will be evaluated by Kopernik and UNV, in collaboration with Ricoh, and the winners will receive 360-degree cameras and training on how to use them. After the training, UN Volunteers will use the cameras to develop further 360-degree video content about the SDG challenges they are tackling in the field.

Putting everyone’s wellbeing first We commissioned the final project evaluation in March 2020. Setting out to identify barriers to disability inclusion within the UN system, we did not expect the evaluation itself would encounter an unprecedented obstacle: the start of the evaluation coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. As per the Independent Evaluation Office’s guidance, we put a principle of ‘Do No Harm’ first and undertook an all-virtual evaluation process with remote data collection to protect the well-being of everyone involved.