Despite significant improvement in food security during the last 20 years, many Vietnamese face undernutrition, overnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies. To ensure food systems contribute to better nutrition, it is essential to strengthen the capacities of various stakeholders including national governments, academia and the private sector, to mainstream nutrition in their policies and investments.

Resilience in Zhouqu  UN Volunteer Zeng Yunheng has been serving as a Project Coordinator for the United Nation’s Development Programme (UNDP) - Demonstration Project for Poverty Reduction and Resilience Construction - in Zhouqu County, Gansu Province in China since November 2019. Due to geological and geographical conditions, Zhouqu is one of the worst-hit areas by natural hazards in the country.

Nanami Akimoto joined UN-Habitat as a UN Volunteer Programme Officer in April 2018 under the Human Resource Development Programme for Peace and Development. Her assignment was fully funded by Japan. She had broad expectations of supporting the work of UN-Habitat Cambodia in advocacy and playing a critical role developing and maintaining networks with donors, development partners and other UN agencies.

Yumiko served through the Global Human Resource Development Programme for Peacebuilding and Development (HRD) of the Government of Japan, and supported two projects funded by Japan. One of these was a project for the prevention of violent extremism in Muslim areas, which is a priority in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. UNDP has provided technical advice to local governments and organized knowledge platforms for stakeholders, such as religious leaders, community heads, academics, officers, internally displaced persons, indigenous people and youth.

Despite high enrollment rates in formal education, youth (aged 15-24) unemployment in Jordan is 37.4 per cent, more than double the world average. Unemployment of young Jordanian women is even greater.  Jordan is one of the countries worldwide with the lowest levels of female participation in the workforce, with 40 per cent of women aged 15-24 and 55 per cent of women aged 25-39 unemployed.

The Livelihoods Unit of UNHCR is responsible for overseeing national livelihood strategies in Nairobi, the Kakuma and Dadaab Camps, as well as the Kalobeiyei settlement. Livelihood interventions help displaced people secure necessities such as food, water, shelter and clothing while also supporting them to gain skills, capacity and social networks. Fundamentally, livelihood assistance focuses on equipping displaced people to become increasing self-reliant, as well as supporting their capacity to participate in income-generating activities.

HRD

Newton Mutunga served as a UN Volunteer Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Officer in Darfur. Recruited in 2015, he was posted in the Marra Mountains (Jebel Marra), where armed conflict persists and increasing numbers of people have been forced to leave their homes. You can read more about Newtons’ UN Volunteer experience in Sudan here.

The Protocol does this by establishing more predictable conditions for access as well as ensuring benefit sharing when genetic resources leave the country. Furthermore, the Protocol creates incentives to conserve and sustainably use genetic resources, enhancing the contribution of biodiversity to development and human wellbeing. Despite being one of the first countries to have ratified the Protocol, Rwanda’s progress towards domesticating the Nagoya Protocol has been slow to pick up momentum.

Tasuku Matsumura, a HRD UN Volunteer from Japan arrived to commence his assignment with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Khartoum as the protracted humanitarian crisis in Sudan became compounded by new emergencies. An influx of South Sudanese refugees, suspected cases of Acute Watery Diarrhoea and high malnutrition rates in newly accessible areas placed new demands on already stretched humanitarian agencies and further imperilled the survival, growth and development of the country’s children.