UN Volunteers Roselyn Owour, Epher Welavunuka, Petronila Khagai, Anne Munene and Jennifer Kibicho held a sensitization session with school girls to raise awareness about gender equality, the importance of going to school and not missing classes, and the challenges facing girls around the world. The school - World Hope Academy in the Kawangware slum in Nairobi - has a total student capacity of 400 children, most of them coming from poor families that live in the slums.

Alois Neza Sikuka (Zimbabwe) is a UN Volunteer Peace, Community & Security Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Sudan.

Bor, South Sudan: Mary works for the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and she does an important job – she makes sure that our office is neat and clean, allowing us to carry on with our duties in a healthy environment. Mary is a widow who lives at the Protection of Civilians site (PoC) adjacent to the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) compound in Bor, Jonglei State, together with her five children, in precarious conditions and unable to leave the camp for fear of her life. We became friends and we started a language exchange.

Juba, South Sudan: I am working as a UN Volunteer Fire Safety Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). My main field of work is Aviation, though I also have knowledge of structural fire safety. 

Bentiu, South Sudan: I am serving as a UN Volunteer Relief, Reintegration and Protection Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). I had been a UNV intern sponsored by the Government of Italy in 2004 in Sudan with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after which I worked for an NGO.

Between Friday 8 July and Sunday 10 July, heavy fighting broke out in Juba which had consequences for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Agencies, Funds and Programmes active in the country. A ceasefire was declared on Monday 11 July 2016. At least 272 people have been killed in the recent violence. Two peacekeepers and one United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) staff lost their lives while several other peacekeepers have sustained injuries. 

Between Friday 8 July and Sunday 10 July, heavy fighting broke out in Juba which had consequences for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) and the Agencies, Funds and Programmes active in the country. A ceasefire was declared on Monday 11 July 2016. At least 272 people have been killed in the recent violence. Two peacekeepers and one United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) staff lost their lives while several other peacekeepers have sustained injuries. 

Bentiu, South Sudan: When fighting broke out in South Sudan in 2013, many civilians were killed and thousands of people sought protection at the UN base in Bentiu, with a large influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to the Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). This posed serious challenges to the management of the sites –scarcity of space and resources, an increase in inter-communal tensions, looting and attacks to humanitarian assets, and increased sexual and gender based violence (SGBV).

Bentiu, South Sudan: As soon as I blow the starting whistle, 12 women crash into me, one after the other, hitting as hard has any man ever could. When the stampede passes I see 50 women tearing off into the distance down the back road of the Bentiu protection of civilians (POC) camp in Unity State, South Sudan.

In October 2015, the newly formed United Nations Volunteer (UNV) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific held an event in Bangkok inspired by the TEDx Program to provide a platform for UN Volunteers to illustrate concrete examples of the role and recognition of volunteerism as an essential contribution to the regional efforts for peace and development. The UN Volunteers spoke to UNV partners, i.e. representatives of UN Member States, UN agencies and volunteer involving organizations, about their assignments and the impact they were making within communities in the region.