The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has united with the families of victims of the Haiti earthquake, their former colleagues and friends to express empathy for their grief.

In a memorial service led by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York, UNV Executive Coordinator Flavia Pansieri and senior UNV staff attended to express their support for the families of UNV volunteers Nicole Bahaya (30) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mamadi Conde (43) of Guinea and Nivah Odwori (36) of Kenya. Read

Fak Fak, Papua, Indonesia: Listiati Rumatupa is a national UNV volunteer. As a Community Mobilization Worker, she helped 80 women of the Fak Fak District make a better living – supporting the transformation of a way to survive into a real business. Read

The year 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV) in 2001. There's opportunities throughout 2011 to showcase the diversity, breadth and depth of volunteering worldwide, raise the profile of volunteering and mobilize many more volunteers. Read

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has a long history of supporting relief operations in the aftermath of disasters, from Hurricane Mitch in Central America in 1998, to the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, the October 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, the Honduras storm in 2007 and the 2008 cyclones in Myanmar and Haiti.

Scores of UNV volunteers have helped coordinate relief efforts, mobilize resources and rehabilitate devastated populations. Their rapid deployment, professional skills and prior experience in disaster response brings hope to overwhelmed communities. Read