A year before the global pandemic began, Francisco, who had recently graduated in medicine, was in Roraima facing the migrant emergency which is yet to be resolved. Serving as a UN Youth Volunteer during the first half of the year would teach him a life lesson that changed his perspective.

As frontline responders, health professionals and beyond, women are contributing to addressing the COVID-19 outbreak daily. Women are mainly responsible for household care and are at increased risk of infection and loss of livelihood. During the pandemic, they are often the victims of domestic violence, with limited access to sexual and reproductive health. In response to the crisis, UN Women in Turkey is using the latest information to understand and address gender challenges during COVID-19. National UN Volunteers support UN women in diverse ways.

The day the cyclone hit, we accommodated five neighbour families who sought refuge after the cyclone winds destroyed their houses. A total of 33 people sat in our small sitting room and I had to climb up the roof to place stone blocks to prevent the roof of being swept away.

It was a normal sunny day when I was going through my center unit visits. The birth center, popularly known as Kutupalong Registered Camp (RC), was unusually filled with a rowdy gathering of male outside the center and filled with women inside the labor room. On seeing me, the midwives on duty rushed me inside the center’s labour room only to find a young first-time mother in extreme labour. They confirmed that the mother’s situation was dire, complicated and life threatening.

Last year in West and Central Africa, 54 UN Volunteers out of 230 globally contributed to UN Women’s missions towards reducing discrimination against women and girls, empowering women and achieving equality between women and men.

There are more than 240,000 refugees and asylum seekers currently registered with UNHCR Egypt. Many are women and children. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) provides registration, refugee status determination, and protection assistance to refugees and asylum seekers from 58 nationalities, in coordination with national and international NGOs.

In communities hardest hit by conflicts, such as Bambari, Bangassou and Ndelé, UN Volunteers are at the heart of social cohesion, awareness raising, the restoration of state authority, capacity building activities or access to economic opportunities for populations suffering from the crisis.

Since August 2017, close to 700,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, creating the world’s largest refugee camp in an area that was before a forest on the border with Myanmar. According to UNFPA, more than half of the new arrivals are women and girls. To respond to the sharp increase in pregnant women, new mothers and newborns in need of care, five UN Volunteers are now serving with UNFPA in Bangladesh. 

Partners for Prevention (P4P) is a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional joint programme for the prevention of violence against women and girls in Asia and the Pacific.  After 10 years of operation, the project came to a close in March of this year.  A final report on the programme assessed the role volunteerism played in the primary prevention of such violence.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the most malnourished countries on earth, with over 4.6m children acutely malnourished, including 2.2m children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. The country is also facing an epidemic of sexual violence. Spiraling humanitarian needs and the rapid escalation in grave protection violations against women and children in the  DRC should be of concern to everyone.