At the time of the earthquake, more than 70 UN Volunteers were serving with 10 UN partners in some 19 duty stations across Myanmar. About one-third of these volunteers are now part of the recovery efforts on the ground with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The guiding principle here was to recruit local volunteers who knew their communities and were from within the system. 

Following the devastation of tropical storm Ida in November 2009, a unique, triangular South-South partnership was initiated with the governments of Brazil and El Salvador and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme.