Bonn, Germany: UNV joined sister organizations in the annual celebration of UN Day 2012 in Bonn, which took place on Saturday, 20 October 2012.  Close to 25,000 people passed through the Market Square during the course of the day, with around 300 people in the United Nations tent at any given time from opening to closing. The event was a great opportunity for the United Nations in Bonn to raise awareness and reach out to the public.  Read

Mapel, South Sudan: After reintegration counselling and training women who are former ex-combatants or were associated with armed groups now operate successful restaurants in South Sudan. Read

Though great strides have been made since the end of the Liberian civil conflict in 2003 there is still a lot of work to be done to assure sustained peace and development. It is against this backdrop that Messengers of Peace – Liberia (MOP) conceptualized and executed the outreach programme: 21 Days of Activism: Volunteerism for Peace and Development to which the UN Volunteers Programme Liberia has been giving critical support to the outreach activity. Read

The 21st of September is the annual International Day of Peace, established by the United Nations in 1981. The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day" )provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date.  Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace.  It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Read some of the stories from our volunteers who are promoting peace. Visit site

Bonn, Germany: 70 online volunteers have contributed extensively, over the course of several months, to the Peace Bag for EuroMed Youth toolkit, drafting, reviewing and translating the 191 page publication into 12 languages, as well as creating the layout and a web version. The team was awarded the Online Volunteering Award 2011 for this exceptional engagement. Read

On Friday, 24 August 2012, Flavia Pansieri, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, and Jean-Pierre Ezin, Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology with the African Union Commission (AUC), signed a letter of understanding in Bonn where the two organizations agree to harmonize their efforts to promote the concept of youth volunteerism as a means to advance socio-economic growth and development in Africa. Read

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire: UNV Programme presented a communiqué on Volunteerism and humanitarian actions in the presence of 40 young participants from Benin, Niger, Togo, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire. The objective of the communication was to motivate young scouts to get involved in volunteer actions for humanitarian purposes in an Africa plagued by incessant conflicts. Read

Bonn, Germany: Getting involved in the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games has proven to be a fantastic, once-in-a-lifetime experience for the 70,000 volunteers assisting the organizers in making the Games happen.

Coming from 70 countries from across the globe and outfitted with purple and red volunteer uniforms, these “Games Makers” were hard to miss in the UK throughout July and August – their work has hit the headlines and displayed the impact had by their Olympic volunteerism. Read

Tirana, Albania: In Albania – the country with the highest percentage of youth in Southeast Europe – Roma youth face heavy discrimination. Their exclusion from sports competitions, school events, vocational training and community life often has a negative impact on their self-confidence. Four Albanians enlisted as UN Volunteers to share their experience directly with youth from nearly 2,000 Roma and Egyptian families. Read