The COVID-19 pandemic will have devastating effects on UN programme countries, reversing many positive gains in sustainable development. The negative social and economic impact particularly affects people most often left behind; such as women, children and those with disabilities.  In support of countries and UN partners in the COVID-19 response, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is investing its own resources to immediately deploy 70 UN Volunteers to countries severely affected by the crisis.

Two weeks ago, Peruvians - with the exception of some heroes - were called to stay at home to prevent COVID-19 from spreading and reaching the most vulnerable populations. However, confinement does not imply standing idly by. This is well understood by many young people, who are willing to offer their unconditional help during these times which have already made their mark on the history books.

Giving clarity and certainty to UN Volunteers and their host agencies, is vital. UNV has put measures and guidelines in place to ensure duty of care for its currently serving 6,000 UN Volunteers who are deployed with over 50 UN entity partners worldwide.

Over the past two years, more and more UN Volunteers have been serving with WHO in support of its operations in the Arab States (from 8 in 2018 to 50 in 2020). Today, these UN Volunteers are part of the organization’s efforts to support an effective COVID-19 response by governments of the region, serving in functions varying from technical support and public information, to general administration, financial and personnel management.

On March 20th in Kenya, the the Government of Kenya, United Nations and International Community convened in Nairobi to join forces in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in Kenya.

UN Volunteer Sitara Khatiwada plays a vital role in mentoring midwives within the Government health facilities as well as the Rohingya Refugee Community in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. She is serving as a Midwife Specialist in Emergency with UNFPA, and is responsible for the direct supervision, training and mentoring of national midwives employed by UNFPA through the project “Partners under Sexual Reproductive Health & Rights (SRHR)”.

On 11 March, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. Africa was initially spared from the outbreak; however, this has since changed rapidly. The entry of COVID-19 onto the continent is a serious issue of concern to the region's socio-economic and political stability. According to WHO, Africa bears 71% of the global distribution of communicable diseases, against a backdrop of relatively weaker health-care systems.

During her assignment, Natsumi was able to meet experts from within and outside the UN system, as well as participate in networking events.  This experience has helped me to achieve my goals. Now, at the end my assignment, I can say I understand the basics of how this huge international organization works. --Natsumi Sawada, UN Volunteer with ESCAP

In 2015 UNDP’s country office in Ukraine established a health procurement project and became the first in Europe and Central Asia to do so. Alongside delivering vital medicines, the project’s key priorities were to provide support to the Government in creating a central procurement agency and establishing a modern health supply system in the country. The Health and Transparency programme, which took the lead in implementing the initiative from the UNDP, was supported by both National and International UN Volunteers.