BONN: For generations, the coastal communities in East Timor have relied on a wide range of fish - large tuna, flying fish, coral reef fish and deepwater snappers which abound along the 600 kilometres of East Timor's coastline - for their livelihoods. Ninety per cent of the East Timorese coastal fleet, fishing gear and on-shore infrastructure was destroyed during the violent fighting that broke out between opponents and supporters of independence after an overwhelming majority of East Timorese had voted for sovereignty in the UN-organized Popular Consultation Ballot held on 30 August 1999. Thousands of people fled the territory. Read

Bonn, Germany: UN Volunteer Solange Sandouidi fights poverty in villages with a team of 11 Burkinabe UN Volunteers. Together, they help create small farming cooperatives for cereal production or animal husbandry - two important sources of income for rural West Africans. Read

Bonn, Germany: It takes centuries to create a single and unique inch of earth that can disappear with shocking speed," says José Eduardo González Estrella, a national UN Volunteer in Ecuador. Day after day he takes up a trying battle against drought and desertification. Read

BONN: Sharavyn Tsendsuren, a 40-year-old widow, lives in Matad soum, a small administrative area in eastern Mongolia. Tsenduren lost her job as a state-sponsored veterinarian after the collapse of the centrally-planned economy in 1990. She moved from job to job, starting as a kindergarten teacher and ending up as a school janitor. Unemployed for a year, she struggled to care for her children, two of whom are disabled. Read

Bonn, Germany: Volunteers are adding their voices to fervent calls for increased efforts to bring sustainable development and revitalized economic activity to the African continent. As the Group of Eight (G8) leaders prepared to tackle challenges raised by the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), such as steps to reduce poverty and corruption as well as to increase investment and debt relief, a group of Southern Africans took a parallel track and appealed for pro-volunteer policies and legislation. Read

Bonn, Germany: East Timor has been the largest operation ever in the 31-year history of the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV). UN Volunteers were among the first international UN personnel to return to East Timor in October 1999, after weeks of violent fighting between opponents and supporters of independence. Read