A total of 185 women UN Volunteers have served with UNAMID since 2008 and UNISFA since 2012 in a multitude of fields, including medicine, health, engineering, finance, technology and supply chains. Comprising no more than 25 per cent of the total UN Volunteer workforce supporting these two missions, women have been handling challenging tasks and benefiting the communities they serve. Irene Haroub (Zimbabwe), a UN Volunteer HIV/AIDS Trainer/Counselor with UNAMID, hopes the impact of her work will benefit mothers and communities in Darfur for many years to come.

For more than ten years, the African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) has maintained a large-scale peacekeeping operation following years of civil war. The mission is unprecedented in its ever-evolving nature, due to challenges posed by the harsh desert conditions of West Sudan.

My name is Ouedraogo Mohamadi. I am an international UN Volunteer working as an information analyst at the Joint Mission Analysis Centre (JMAC) of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA). I started in Kidal but now work in Gao, Northern Mali. My role is to collect and analyse data as part of MINUSMA's mandate. I also assist the Head of the Mission in Gao. I help ensure that the mission's mandate is carried out.

UN Volunteers serve throughout UNAMID’s operations covering the vast Darfur region (approximately equivalent to the size of France). The environment is characterized by harsh conditions with extremely high temperatures, driving sand storms, and limited or non-existent local support mechanisms. Despite these challenges, UNAIMD successfully established a network of facilities and infrastructure in Darfur, including in remote deep-field locations, to support and achieve the mission’s Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding mandate.

Darfur, Sudan: In 2009, I joined UNAMID as a volunteer HIV and AIDS trainer/counsellor, after having served as a VSO volunteer HIV and AIDS advisor in Cambodia, and as an HIV and AIDS counsellor with TASO in my own country of Uganda. I am passionate about volunteering, having started work as a volunteer in Uganda, and born in a family of volunteers - my father and mother were community volunteers helping those in need.

Darfur, Sudan: When I started volunteering in Darfur with the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) as an HIV/AIDS Trainer/Counselor, my responsibilities included carrying awareness training, counselling and testing. I worked with other UNAMID sections, other peacekeepers and internally displaced persons. The exposure and ownership that I've been given over the projects, as well as the time and responsibility that I've been given from professionals that I've worked with has been overwhelming.

Darfur, Sudan: Fighting the spread of HIV in war zones and conflict settings is a major challenge facing UN Missions across the globe. The conflict in Darfur has resulted in huge displacements of populations, disruption to family structures and livelihoods, as well as the deterioration of health infrastructures. Additionally, it has led to the creation of camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) across the region. In general, the spread of HIV/AIDS is exacerbated by conditions of violence and instability that increase the risk of exposure to the disease.