Can you share the highlights of your assignment as a UN Volunteer and a bit about what you do every day? I have been a Community Outreach Officer with UNMISS for the past three years. I constantly interact with local communities, women’s groups, youth representatives, students, traditional leaders, faith-based organizations and government stakeholders across South Sudan to educate them on the core values the mission stands for.

At the end of July 2021, deadly floods and landslides had a devastating effect on those living in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. Initial reports estimated that 2,500 shelters were damaged or destroyed, affecting more than 12,000 refugees within 24 hours alone.

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. 

In Tanzania, Violence Against Women and Girls is widespread and pervasive. Patriarchal social structures and traditional gender norms perpetuate violence. Women may be socialized to accept, tolerate or even rationalize domestic and partner violence perpetuated against them. For girls, some parents prevent their girl child from attending school and insist they fail exams or encourage them to quit schooling. Furthermore, rape and child marriage result in expulsion from education as does pregnancy, all of which are considered violence or violent acts.

In Uganda, thousands of children become extremely sick and at risk of death due to unequal access to safe drinking water and poor sanitation and hygiene. Diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia, which are preventable with safe water and sanitation, remain leading causes of child mortality.

I didn’t know much about Mali. But after eight years spent between legal research and advocacy in different countries, I needed to be more in the field, closer to people, to understand how to implement the law. 

Collaborating with partners, coordinating with field offices, drafting project proposals, scheduling actions and deadlines – these tasks are the foundational components of a successful project. However, delivering these tasks efficiently also means analyzing the broader context in which the project unfolds to enhance positive and mitigate potential negative effects on the social fabric.

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

In crises and emergency situations, volunteering provides governments and civil society organizations with greater flexibility and response capacity. This is particularly true in humanitarian crises, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic

I am currently serving as a national UN Volunteer in Liberia for the Spotlight Initiative. My role is to develop an outreach strategy and distribute awareness-raising materials for the Coronavirus pandemic, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health. We engage with community members and religious leaders to promote preventive measures for vulnerable community members, including women, girls and persons with disabilities.