Under a new partnership with the Government of the Russian Federation, UNV is offering UN Volunteer assignments in different areas of expertise for Russian nationals.

In 1971, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme deployed its first 35 UN Volunteers to serve in Chad, Bangladesh and Yemen with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Two years later, in 1973, the number grew to 93 UN Volunteers serving for the International Labour Organization (ILO), UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and FAO.

The Deputy Executive Coordinator (DEC) started IVD by volunteering at a local school in Sochi, leading a Lesson of Kindness. During the lesson, the DEC shared with 75 children and teenagers his thoughts on the importance of volunteering in Russia and globally, his family traditions of volunteering and his personal experience with the development of volunteerism internationally.

Having volunteered for various causes over the past 10 years, from working in animal shelters to supporting playgrounds for disabled children, Polina quotes Mahatma Gandhi to explain her motivation: The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others. These words of Gandhi describe my attitude towards volunteering. --Polina Listopad, UN Volunteer with UNICEF, Moldova

Across the globe, the impacts of anthropogenic action are pervasive as never before: in the Maghreb, crops grown on marginal lands are failing; in Egypt, rising sea levels are impacting impoverished neighbourhoods; in Jordan, competition and tensions over resources is predicted to only intensify as warming temperatures further heighten

My UN Volunteer assignment dates back to the late 1990s.  At that point, I was already working with UNDP in the Lao PDR, so serving as volunteer offered additional learning and networking opportunities. Being one of the largest UNV programmes at the time, the Lao PDR had a strong and diverse group of UN Volunteers that I became part of. An Orientalist, I always drew my motivation from building country capacities and learning local cultures. 

Monika Linn, Principal Adviser of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, Jason Pronyk, Regional Manager of the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme in the Arab States, Europe and countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Professor Cécile Aptel, Director of Policy, Strategy and Knowledge Department at International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), delivered opening remarks and invited participants to share innovations and best practices, discuss opportunities for new partnerships and approaches, and analyse ways to overco

My time serving as a UN Youth Volunteer in Education for a year, between February 2017 to February 2018, was a great learning experience. Due to my proactive attitude, I participated in an array of activities that were instrumental to my contribution to the efforts of UNESCO IICBA in building a sustainable educational framework using ICT for schools in Ethiopia and other countries in the African Union.

ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

This four-day long event served as the starting point for the implementation of the agreement between the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, signed earlier this year, through which the Russian Federation will deploy fully funded Russian UN Volunteers with UNV.