Ms Gulnara Kusherbaeva set up her own women's NGO and works on a voluntary basis to support the growth of a women's movement in Kazakhstan. She organizes many activities which promote awareness of women's issues and build the confidence and ability of women to advance themselves. Read

Mr Aoued Sebaa, an Algerian-Russian International UN Volunteer, is currently working as a Field Protection Officer for UNHCR in Kazakhstan. He first became a UN Volunteer in the late 1980s, working on the Afghan border. Read

Dr Telzhan Zhunisbekov, a Kazakhstan national, has served as an International UN Volunteer in Burundi, Rwanda and Congo, providing emergency surgery and training local doctors to carry out difficult and specialized orthopaedic operations. His story is an excellent example of the value of voluntary cooperation between developing countries. Read

After some 20 years of working as a gynaecologist and obstetrician in her home city of Almaty in Kazakhstan, Dr Gulzhan Chimbayeva wanted to gain some experience in a different environment and she thought the United Nations would be the perfect organization to work for. Read

Ainsley Reid raises awareness of HIV/AIDS in his country, Jamaica. A national UN Volunteer and the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the Jamaican Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (JN+), Ainsley speaks with authority -- he has been living with HIV/AIDS since 1992. Read

Laurie Moy, of McKinney, Texas, U.S.A., first began online volunteering through NetAid in March 2000. She is now the Coordinator of Volunteers for People With Disabilities, Uganda (PWDU), overseeing the work of more than 75 other online volunteers from all over the world. Here is her report after visiting her online assignment, on-site. Read

The word "Timorization" was as alien to most of us as the word "Development" in East Timor during its colonial past. Immediately after arriving here, I was deputed to work in the Civil Service Academy and impart training to the local civil servants so that they can have effective system of administration and governance in a time bound manner. In short, the mandate was to do a time bound exercise in Capacity Building for the People of East Timor, who in the words of James Dunn have been betrayed time and again. Read

The hands-on work with UNHCR persons of concern, such as refugees and displaced persons, remained the most enjoyable and rewarding part of my work as a UN Volunteer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Bosnia. Read

Saara Parkkali, a Finnish health coordinator in Brazil, has been training for her position as a UN Volunteer since the age of eight. Read

Kristiina Mikkola, a UN Volunteer from Finland, is fully-funded by her Government for her assignment as programme officer in the environment and natural resources management section of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office in Nepal. Read