As peace gives impetus for Iraq to move from a crisis context to development, United Nations Volunteers (UNV) looks forward to working with the Government of Iraq and integrating volunteers into the country's sustainable development agenda. --Kyoko Yokosuka, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator These were the words of Ms Kyoko Yokosuka, UNV Deputy Executive Coordinator, as she addressed the audience at the high-level International Volunteer Day (IVD) event in Baghdad. 

Covid hit. Everything shut down. I had a job in Egypt but wanted an international perspective, so I started looking for opportunities, and then one day I landed in Somalia. It was April 2021 and amidst the ongoing unrest in the country around that time, I thought to myself – my international volunteer experience is going to end before it begins. A feeling of risk started to settle in. I made sure that my runaway bag was ready.

I am the focal point of UPSHIFT with UNICEF. which aims at youth social innovation.  

The theme of this year's IVD centers on the power of everyone - collective action - if everyone did. If everyone volunteered the world would be a better place.  Imagine more than eight billion of us volunteering. Limitless possibilities for sustainable development - food and education for everyone, clean environment and good health, inclusive and peaceful societies, and more.

Your Excellency, Minister of Youth and Sports, dear friends and colleagues, The person speaking on the video like a robot was me.  The message was to the global audience. Today I would like some personal remarks for you, UN Volunteers in Somalia. I came here to present personal greetings not only from myself, as the Executive Coordinator, but also from 13,000 UN Volunteers around the world. We know of you, we hear about you and we appreciate all what you do.

With nearly ten years in the United Nations system and some eight years working directly with vulnerable refugee and asylum-seeking populations, I value my service to UNHCR's international protection mandate.  UNHCR in Somalia works with government and stakeholders to provide humanitarian assistance, and advance peace and development in priority areas of return and reintegration.

Abdelmohsin Elzair and Elsadig Saeed are international UN Volunteer Experts from Sudan. They serve as Supervising Engineers mainly in Ninewa located in northern Iraq. Among their shared accomplishments - construction of residential complexes, the rehabilitation of houses, and the establishment of public infrastructure including portable water networks. Elsadig leads and manages various construction and infrastructure projects through all phases in various areas in Ninewa Governorate.

Everyone has the power to make a difference in the world. Driven by this conviction, I started my UN Volunteer assignment with the UN's Refugee Agency, UNHCR in Somalia. The humanitarian context grapples with multiple displacement complexities.  I am stationed in Hargeisa in Somaliland. I am deeply involved in the collection, management, and analysis of data on persons of concern, including asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, and internally displaced people. 

A group of 40 UN Volunteers belonging to local communities was deployed by WFP in Iraq’s Duhok Governorate, which is located in the Kurdistan Region. In line with the Public Distribution System reform agenda, this group served alongside field enumerators to register Duhok residents. Serving tirelessly for three months, volunteers supported the registration of the newly issued PDS cards and also updated the residents' demographic information in the system - between 50 to 100 family registrations were carried out daily. Volunteers did so by using digital tablets.

What were the key highlights of your responsibilities during your assignment with UNHCR Somalia? I was the programme focal point in Kismayo and Jubaland, covering four field units. I supported the Mogadishu sub-office, monitoring and reporting on key indicators and other information requested by partners.  As the field unit programme focal point in Kismayo, I coordinated activities such as capacity building sessions with communities. I interacted with counterparts in different town and regions and regularly visited the people of concern that we served.