Katrin Hermanek is an international UN Youth Volunteer fully funded by Switzerland. She serves as a Gender Equality Programme Analyst with UN Women in Lebanon. Her grassroots-level community service helps identify needs of women and girls. In coming up with solutions, a major emphasis is to ensure women get a decision-making role in their communities.

The Community UN Volunteers were selected from 22 unions under Bandarban and Rangamati districts representing the marginalized group of ethnic minorities descending from tribal groups in the hard-to-reach terrains of Hill District Regions - 58% women. The volunteers began their assignments in December 2023 to support the multi-donor Local Government Initiative on Climate Change (LoGiC).

UN Volunteer Machiko Kitagawa played a pivotal role in engaging adolescents and youth with UNICEF in Nepal. Her primary focus was to oversee the implementation of Generation Unlimited (GenU) in Nepal, devising strategies, bolstering country frameworks and forging crucial partnerships to empower Nepalese youth. Machiko's assignment was fully funded by the Government of Japan, under the Human Resource Development Programme for Peacebuilding and Development.

For Zambians, food insecurity is an urgent issue. Around 18 per cent of the country’s rural population require urgent action to protect their livelihoods. A further 15 per cent are only marginally able to meet their food needs, while three per cent of the country’s 17.8m people are already facing considerable food gaps.

The Swiss Embassy and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) in Tunisia are launching a programme that will offer 185 young Tunisians the opportunity to gain professional experience through inclusive and impactful volunteering assignments within the United Nations Agencies, Funds, and Programs in Tunisia. These assignments will last from six to twelve months and will undergo a competitive recruitment process, led by UNV.

Carol is an Irish-funded UN Youth Volunteer with the UNDP Multi-Country Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean serving as Assistant Gender Analyst. She majored in political science and economics and her interest in gender issues and equality led her to work in multiple organizations and other volunteer positions. Her work experience and passion for development called her to be a UN Volunteer.

The fully funded opportunities primarily focus on economic development and other priority areas as identified by the Ministry, with deployments to take place in jointly agreed countries. Recruitment for these opportunities is currently ongoing via UNV’s Unified Volunteering Platform (UVP).

Facilitating safe returns with IOM Toema Ibrahim (Egypt, 24) is a UN Volunteer Migrant Protection Assistant with the International Office for Migration (IOM) in Cairo. In his work, he is facilitating the safe return of individuals from diverse nationalities to their countries of origin, and he has worked actively on IOM’s Sudan response assisting people to their countries of origin.

UN Youth Volunteer Love-lis Liljeström (Sweden) is supporting the roll out of the crisis response of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Port Sudan. Love-lis is a Programme Liaison Affairs/Transition Affairs Assistant, and her assignment is fully funded by Sida, Sweden.