According to my mother; Miriam Palma, when I was one year old, I was diagnosed with retinoblastoma. At the age of four, I completely lost my sight. My family was in shock by my situation, they did all that they could, and there was no option for surgery. I have had to deal with my condition my entire life. "Today, I can say that I found the way to reach my full potential," says Antonio Palma, UN Volunteer serving for the UN Resident Coordinator's Office.

UNV works with partners to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Lao PDR Development Strategy. To do so, the organization recruits diverse talents and offers a variety of volunteer opportunities.

Within the framework of the joint project "Sustainable Development of the System of Social Protection of the Population: Promotion of Programmes on Social Integration and Inclusion," UNDP inaugurated a centre for employment and professional rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.

The strength of the UNV-Sweden partnership was again reinforced this week, following the conclusion of annual consultations between UNV and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), as well as the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Sweden.  Acknowledging the depth of commitment and engagement between UNV and Sweden, UNV Executive Coordinator Mr Toily Kurbanov described the partnership as going far beyond a funding relationship, thanking Sweden for “being a great enabler of UNV results”.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations system-wide service provider. Our mandate is to enable talented and dedicated volunteers to help the United Nations system deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In doing so, we are intentional in recruiting volunteers with disabilities. For a long time, we have worked together with our partners to achieve more inclusive development outcomes. Additionally, we are now working to make the United Nations system itself more inclusive and diverse.

Working with persons with disabilities is not new for the United Nations system. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) identifies and protects the rights of persons with disabilities. We must uphold these rights in our peace, development and humanitarian work.

Persons with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world. In Latin America and the Caribbean, they represent around 13 per cent of the population (Source: Inter-American Development Bank).

A world full of fairness, agility and justice Jean-Rufin Doguela Gbogola is a national UN Volunteer Monitoring and Reporting Assistant with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the Central African Republic.  My assignment is focused on monitoring and reporting a joint youth project, which aims to promote the socioeconomic resilience of young people in the country, by creating emergency jobs and entrepreneurship training.

I joined the UNDP Kazakhstan team in 2020. For me, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities has always been a day closer to sadness, arousing memories of being excluded from society due to my disability. Therefore, when my interview for this UN Volunteer assignment was scheduled close to the day, I felt this was ironic.  However, I was successful, and since the start of the assignment, my perspective on how the world sees people with disabilities has changed.

Milanka Nikolic is a national UN Volunteer Human Rights Associate with OHCHR in Serbia. Her assignment is fully funded by the Government of Sweden.  Her involvement in volunteering and interest to learn more about human rights and UN core values led her to join the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme.   My work area has always been activism, primarily for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, alongside promoting media literacy and social media education.