With a background in Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics, Deanna sees her volunteer assignment with the United Nations as a platform for meaningful contribution to sustainability—something she's been passionately pursuing as part of her university studies as well.   I consolidate climate vulnerability and disaster risk data from diverse UN entities and development partners into a unified platform, thus enhancing data accessibility and improving urban planning and decision-making processes.” Yi Nam Xu, UN Volunteer with UN-Habitat.

A national of Nepal, Sanjeev Roy joined WHO in 2022. He has previous experience in working with malaria infection in his native Nepal, which has seen considerable success in eliminating the life-threatening disease.

I lead the implementation of an Alternative Development Project launched by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Lao PDR. Through such projects, UNODC works with communities to develop ‘alternative’ sources of income that are both sustainable and licit.

“I served with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. My six-month assignment helped me gain many invaluable experiences that contributed to my personal and professional growth,” says Karinda Chuntavorn, a UN Youth University Volunteer in Resource Mobilization. Her assignment was supported by the Agency for Volunteer Service (AVS) and the Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s Home Affairs Bureau (HAB).

The training was meant to inform, prepare, engage and make the volunteers better understand the role of UN Youth Volunteers in the context of the United Nations. These 30 youth volunteers were part of UNV’s Full Funding programme. They left today for their funding countries, the Czech Republic, France and Switzerland. In just a matter of days, they will start their volunteer assignments in Asia, Africa and Europe. Their enthusiasm and desire to make a difference to the world resonated throughout the induction training. 

Houay Ngou, Lao PDR: My last field visit was for a small hydro power project in the remote village of Houay Ngou in northern Lao PDR. The villagers had invited our GEF (Global Environment Facility) SGP (Small Grants Programme) team to the opening ceremony to celebrate the launch of the new small hydro power generating system. It takes almost two days to reach the village from Vientiane, the capital city, due to its remote mountainous location and dusty road conditions, but we were happy to attend.