My name is David Ouma and I am a national UN Volunteer Specialist. I serve as Project Management Assistant at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi.  My academic background in Biology and my six-month internship in marine conservation at the Kenyan coast led to this UN Volunteer assignment. 

Despite the arduous situation occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic, Elza kept working remotely during the lockdown, giving more than 640 job applicants a second chance to find a job by correcting technical errors in their application documents.

Roma belong to the largest ethnic minority in Serbia and are still among the most deprived communities, often facing discrimination, social exclusion and unequal access to employment, education, housing and health services. The 2017 Regional Survey on socio-economic position of vulnerable Roma in the Western Balkans, commissioned by UNDP, showed that the biggest challenges for social inclusion of Roma in Serbia are their high unemployment and inactivity rates. While the education aspect has improved for Roma, it is not resulting in their employment.

In the Republic of Serbia, Roma are the largest ethnic minority and remain one of the most disenfranchised communities, often facing discrimination, social exclusion and unequal access to employment, education, housing and health services. UNDP's 2017 regional survey on the socio-economic position of Roma in the Western Balkans highlighted that although education among Roma has improved, one of the biggest challenges for the social inclusion of Roma in Serbia was the high level of unemployment.