"There is the same spirit among UN Volunteers and people like us working voluntarily for the sake of the population and our society. The only benefit we're looking for is development for all."
Idriss Bassou, a 35-year-old tailor, volunteers his time in N'djamena's Ridina district

UN Volunteers in Chad take people off the street - and send them straight back in an ambitious clean-up drive. Owing to a lack of public rubbish collection services and latrines, waste has piled up in the capital N'djamena. The UNV team has brought together groups to rid the capital of garbage and the health risks that come with it. The UN Volunteers have also organized a monthly day to tidy up all five districts of the city and a weekly cleaning of N'djamena's three markets, drawing in community members for voluntary work that benefits everyone. Garbage removal is not only improving sanitary conditions, but it also provides a chance to make an income. Groups of collectors fan out across districts of the capital to collect garbage door-to-door, for a fee. They also earn a bit of money selling small canteens made out of aluminium cans, electric materials or glass bottles. With the support of the UN Volunteers, young people learn to build rubbish bins and carts, to calculate their costs and to carry out marketing studies. Indeed, they are learning to run their own small businesses - from the streets.

UN Volunteers have taken up a range of activities to improve living conditions in cities:

• National UN Volunteers fight poverty in Guinaw Rail, a crowded district of the Senegalese capital Dakar hindered by poor health and inadequate schooling. The UNVs train local officials and community group leaders in basic management skills to enable them to set up local, decentralized development plans. They have also worked to share handicraft skills with young people and improve teaching conditions and security at two schools.
• UN Volunteers in Cambodia join community members to build primary schools and homes in squatter settlements of Phnom Penh. To improve conditions in a resettlement camp, they have advised local residents on how to construct landfills, toilets, wells, access roads and drainage systems.
• Working with UNICEF to bridge a gap between government agencies and local communities, 12 UN Volunteers have promoted child-friendly conditions in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, by supplying school furniture and by building health and traditional birth centres as well as girl child shelters. The UNVs also held training workshops on the issues of health and HIV/AIDS.