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.

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).

Rumbek, South Sudan: As a UNV Human Rights Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), the main part of my assignment is to monitor, verify and report human rights violations as per the Mandate (2241, 2015).

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.

Yambio, South Sudan: "I started doing voluntary work when I was in primary school so the spirit of volunteerism has always been with me" says Robert Kiiza, a UN Volunteer from Uganda, based in Yambio South Sudan. In 2012, Robert became an UN Volunteer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a Fire Safety Assistant in the Aviation Section. When he got deployed in Juba, there were only two fire safety personnel across the mission and he was asked to coordinate fire related activities in areas where UNMISS launched air operations.

Bentiu, South Sudan: When Katia Cristina Da Silva, from Portugal, joined the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in 2007, her main goal was to use her skills to improve the lives of others and share her expertise to enhance the capacity of others.  Since then, Katia has been a UN Volunteer in East Timor, Nepal, Sudan, and South Sudan. In April 2013, Katia joined the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a UNV Civil Affairs Officer having been a UN Volunteer with the United Nations Mission in Sudan  from 2009 to 2011.

Juba, South Sudan: Jane Strapola Awuor Mala serves as a UN Volunteer Peace and Security Specialist assigned to the United Nations Development Programme; Community Security and Arms Control project in Juba, South Sudan. The project’s main purpose is to facilitate the transformation of conflict through community consultations based on constructing and implementing security plans to reserve security and peace.

Bentiu, South Sudan: From my time as a United Nations Volunteer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), I will always remember waking up to the sounds of gunshots and heavy mortar shelling on Monday the 16th of December 2013. An uneventful weekend had been followed by one of the most chaotic and frightening times in my life.

Wau, South Sudan: Everybody likes a story with a happy ending. This is especially true for people working on the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants and women associated with armed forces and groups (WAAF). As a Management Systems Officer, Prince Isaiah, a UN Volunteer from Liberia, accumulates data on people’s reintegration for the Crisis Prevention Recovery Unit of UNDP’s DDR program in South Sudan. For him, finding success stories is one of the best parts of his job.