The people of South Sudan deserve to enjoy life, deserve to have food, water, electricity, education and a prosperous future for their children. This is the spirit of volunteerism for me – volunteering to make people’s lives better. --Ia Saakadze, UN Volunteer Air Operations Assistant

UNMISS was established in 2011 after South Sudan became the newest country on earth and works to deter violence, provide refuge at Protection of Civilian sites across the country, facilitate humanitarian assistance and investigate human rights violations. It is an impartial partner at national and sub-national level to political, religious, traditional and community leaders to foster reconciliation.

Yambio, South Sudan: "I started doing voluntary work when I was in primary school so the spirit of volunteerism has always been with me" says Robert Kiiza, a UN Volunteer from Uganda, based in Yambio South Sudan. In 2012, Robert became an UN Volunteer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a Fire Safety Assistant in the Aviation Section. When he got deployed in Juba, there were only two fire safety personnel across the mission and he was asked to coordinate fire related activities in areas where UNMISS launched air operations.