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. UNV staff and UN Volunteers deployed to the Asia Pacific region also attended to join the discussions that the talks inspired.
In this video, UN Volunteer, Awotash Tefera (Ethiopia) speaks movingly about her assignment as a Gender and Governance Advisor with UN Women in Juba, South Sudan from October 2012-March 2014 where she strove to end violence against women and girls while advocating for gender equity. Today, Awotash is the Programme Officer for Partners for Prevention, a joint programme to end violence against women and girls in the Asia-Pacific Region.
