The Experimental Center for the Development of the Small and Medium Rural Companies is a non-governmental organization (NGO), formed by indigenous and non –indigenous women and men, with the objective to improve the quality of life for rural families of the Western Highlands of Guatemala. Read

Being in West Africa for the first time excited me and more than that, working on something I enjoyed doing was even more exciting.As a UN Volunteer, I have had both good times and bad times. Read

In Congo, the war has cost women dearly. The widespread practice of sexual violence against women and girls, is a violation of human rights, international humanitarian law, international criminal law and Congolese law. Read

The story of Christine is a story lived by many women and girls in Congo, a post-conflict country where fighting between militias and factions has largely ceased but civilians became the consistent target for killing, rape, looting and an array of harassments. Read

A recent UNHCR Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) workshop in Nairobi, attended by delegates from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan discussed the incidence and impacts of harmful cultural traditions practised on women. Read

When one mentions the name of the world’s newest state, Timor-Leste, the one thing that immediately comes to mind is the civil strife that engulfed the country in 1999, as the people chose independence. The unrest has left behind deep scars, not just physically, but also on people’s souls. Timor-Leste, like most post-conflict states, faces enormous social, economic and political challenges. As the people face these challenges a bright ray of hope shines across the country.
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The thirty or so Somali women and girls gathered near the Holl-Holl camp community garden, where visitors routinely leave with armfuls of papayas and mangoes, cannot read or interpret a map of their native country, Somalia. Read

“When I first came here I fell in love with the place. I thought it would be tough though. I searched in Google for Apartadó, and it did not exist”. Read

When I was selected to be a UN Volunteer to serve in Kosovo, I had a great deal of curiosity, fear, and uncertainty. I had never heard of UNV and couldn’t imagine what it exactly meant. Read

After various stints working in development in Italy, Bolivia, and Nepal, Andrea Ferrari-Bravo was recruited in September 2001 to launch the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme in Albania. Today, 28 UN Volunteers support the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) activities aimed at promoting democratic governance and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) social reintegration initiatives. Read