In the aftermath of conflicts or natural disasters, people often need assistance from the international community. The UN is there to help get the aid flowing and to enable recovery and rehabilitation. UN Volunteers frequently play a key part.

Supporting the operations of various UN agencies, UN Volunteers engage in a wide range of roles with the ultimate aim to save and protect the lives of people such as refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), to alleviate suffering and to maintain human dignity.

These roles include, among many others, protection officers, community services officers, repatriation officers, food distribution monitors, programme officers, field officers, logisticians, procurement specialists, warehouse managers, material management specialists, administrative assistants, transport coordinators and radio technicians.

In the past five years, UN Volunteers have supported humanitarian activities in war-torn and post-conflict countries such as Afghanistan, Burundi, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Chad, Guinea, Liberia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Thailand, to name a few.

UN Volunteers have also supported humanitarian assistance efforts in countries during famines and after natural disasters, for example in the immediate aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

• Learn more about UNV and UN peacekeeping operations
• Learn more about UNV and post-conflict electoral operations

To register your profile in the UNV database of potential candidates, please go to register to be a UN Volunteer.