The disability inclusion strategy of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme enables UN partners to include persons with disabilities in their workforce, thus expanding opportunities, diversity and representation. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development put forward 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which reflect the rights of persons with disabilities. This vision of a better future can only be achieved with the full participation of everyone, including persons with disabilities.

Nichakarn joined the UNDP-UNV Talent Programme for Young Professionals with Disabilities in October 2020. As a person with a visual impairment, she encountered numerous challenges, such as a non-inclusive system, attitudinal barriers and inaccessible learning materials.

UNV works with partners to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Lao PDR Development Strategy. To do so, the organization recruits diverse talents and offers a variety of volunteer opportunities.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations system-wide service provider. Our mandate is to enable talented and dedicated volunteers to help the United Nations system deliver on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In doing so, we are intentional in recruiting volunteers with disabilities. For a long time, we have worked together with our partners to achieve more inclusive development outcomes. Additionally, we are now working to make the United Nations system itself more inclusive and diverse.

Working with persons with disabilities is not new for the United Nations system. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) identifies and protects the rights of persons with disabilities. We must uphold these rights in our peace, development and humanitarian work.

Persons with disabilities are the largest minority group in the world. In Latin America and the Caribbean, they represent around 13 per cent of the population (Source: Inter-American Development Bank).

I joined the UNDP Kazakhstan team in 2020. For me, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities has always been a day closer to sadness, arousing memories of being excluded from society due to my disability. Therefore, when my interview for this UN Volunteer assignment was scheduled close to the day, I felt this was ironic.  However, I was successful, and since the start of the assignment, my perspective on how the world sees people with disabilities has changed.

When I got the opportunity at UNDP in 2019, I was working at the university as a teaching assistant. I thought UNDP would give me a chance to grow and also contribute to everything that I wanted to do in society. I was already interested in inclusive development, inclusive governance, social justice, climate change, and I wanted to play a part in addressing social inequalities.

Putting everyone’s wellbeing first We commissioned the final project evaluation in March 2020. Setting out to identify barriers to disability inclusion within the UN system, we did not expect the evaluation itself would encounter an unprecedented obstacle: the start of the evaluation coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. As per the Independent Evaluation Office’s guidance, we put a principle of ‘Do No Harm’ first and undertook an all-virtual evaluation process with remote data collection to protect the well-being of everyone involved.

The path to a more inclusive UN system has been paved by the engagement of UN volunteers with disabilities in UN entities around the world. Yet, barriers still exist – both within and outside of the UN system. Social stigma via institutional and economic constraints on physical participation and communication, persist.  Barriers have hampered efforts and limited successes yet are also motivation to work tirelessly towards inclusive change.