Yet, despite Africa’s richness in resources—diamonds, gold, and natural beauty—life here has its share of challenges. As an orphan raised by my father, I grew up without access to essential sexual education due to cultural taboos. Like many, I became pregnant at 17, but I was fortunate to continue my education. Today, Rwanda is working toward empowering young people through advocacy and awareness campaigns, fostering a brighter future.

Luis is a UN Volunteer Law Enforcement Expert with UNODC in Liberia. He supports the work of Liberian officers to fight drug trafficking and organized crime. He trained some 900 officers in skills such as investigations and intelligence analyses.

Through the UNDP Transitional Justice project funded by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, UNDP South Sudan has been collaborating with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the Greater Bahr El Ghazal; Greater Equatoria and Greater Upper Nile areas to ensure that the voices of South Sudanese are included and heard in all processes. The CSOs have been using their communication channels to provide information about the transitional justice mechanisms to communities of victims and survivors of conflict.

Giovana Urquizo and Luisa Luna Choque are among the nine UN Community Volunteers. Giovana is from Chuquisaca Department in the center south of Bolivia and Luisa is from La Paz, the third most populous city and the seat of the government of Bolivia.  

Forum and UNV share a common purpose, and both organizations recognise the importance of responsible, impactful volunteering in delivering the SDGs. This MoU sets out a new phase in our collaboration with UNV in which we will launch new research and new conversations on volunteering, and promote the voices of volunteers. We look forward to working closely with our colleagues in UNV in this exciting new phase," says Heather Shapter, Chair of the Forum Board.

Alexandra's UN Volunteer assignment is fully funded by the Government of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). 

The project is implemented in partnership with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and 11 UN Volunteers are actively involved in its execution in the three countries. Eight national UN Volunteers manage training, five of these in Cameroon and three in Chad. In Gabon, three national volunteers handle communications, information technology and monitoring and evaluation.

To me, volunteerism is a very fascinating journey of exploring myself, diverse cultures, communities and the world at large. In January 2016, I felt I should pass on my skills further to a more global community. Having acquired a Bachelor’s degree in Procurement and Logistics Management with CIPS, I decided to register for Online Volunteer opportunities with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme.

The project for sustaining peace in Tunisia through the inclusion of young people at the local level is being implemented by UNDP, UN Women and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), with the support of the UN Peacebuilding Fund, and in partnership with seven different municipalities. Each of the UN Volunteers is responsible for the coordination of the project in one municipality, where social cohesion and resilience are promoted through the inclusion of the most marginalized young women and men.

I quickly discovered that the mission is a mosaic of diverse characters facing unique challenges and chasing different dreams. For example, in my role as UN Volunteer Public Information Officer, I hoped to use my writing to highlight the collective challenges, as well as accomplishments, of a nascent nation like South Sudan to a global audience. But I never really considered what I was doing as humanitarian work.