Orphée landed her internship with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in Panama "auf Umwegen", as she says in German, or in an unanticipated way. Initially, she was assigned to a different duty station, but when that assignment was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her fluency in Spanish qualified her for Panama. "I wanted to contribute to peace and development and felt a direct connection to volunteerism," Orphée shares.

In 2021, 24 Chinese youth took up UN Volunteer assignments to serve with 14 UN agencies around the world. Shuyi Song was one of them. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shuyi's scheduled on-site assignment was changed to a telecommuting opportunity.

UNICEF's Division of Human Resources collaborated with the Capacity Development Team of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and experienced career coaches to boost the confidence and skills of their UN Volunteers. In two live sessions, UN Volunteers hosted at UNICEF offices globally received useful resources, advice and tips on career management. In addition, they connected with the global UNV community and engaged with UNICEF's Talent Programmes and Partnership Team.

COP27 represents the largest annual gathering on climate action. In particular, it aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen commitments to finance climate action in the Global South countries and ensure broad engagement towards a climate-resilient, carbon-neutral future.

The YouthConnekt Africa Summit (YCA) provides a unique opportunity that brings together development partners under one roof to discuss evidence-based interventions that empower youth. Volunteerism is at the heart of the Summit, where youth volunteer platforms and volunteer mobilization are advocated as key strategies to channel the energy and innovative spirit of youth in the region to accelerate Africa’s progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In order to improve conditions for young people in Lesotho, a ground-breaking partnership between the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), German Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ), Lesotho National Youth Council, Office of the Director of Youth at the Ministry of Youth, and youth-focused VIOs in Lesotho, builds the employment skills of young people, provides them with greater access to information on health and

This week, Habitat III, the third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development is taking place in Quito, Ecuador, to establish a sustainable Urban Agenda for cities as we work towards achieving the Global Goals. 

"Volunteers must be placed at the heart of a new development model," wrote UNV EC Richard Dictus in the editorial he contributed to the Huffingtonpost website published upon the launch of the State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2015 on 5 June 2015.

USA Today included the launch of the State of the World's Volunteerism Report 2015, at UN Headquarters in New York on 5 June 2015, in its feature "5 things you need to know Friday".

UN Volunteer Alex Meland (Canada) is a Local Governance Specialist with UNDP in Somalia. There, he is taking part in the UN Joint Programme on Local Governance and Decentralized Service Delivery (JPLG) which aims to strengthen local governance and enhance decentralized services in Somaliland and other regions of Somalia. The programme is the subject of a new video from UNDP.