Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: This experience has enriched me and has given me a force to continue with volunteer work to improve services for the community. The same spirit and force that I noticed in people with whom I worked. Read

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: Energy efficiency programmes combined with the development of renewable energy sources will boost energy supply in Kyrgyzstan. Under the Shell 'Project Better World' initiative in cooperation with UNV, I served as an energy efficiency consultant to an environmental NGO. Read

In Kyrgyzstan, international volunteers raised funds for both children and the elderly. Read

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: I was in Kyrgyzstan not for a cultural exchange, but was sent there on a capacity-building mission. To get over a difficult situation, I tried to think like a recruit of my host NGO. Read

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: During my classes, I taught English without using their mother tongue. It was a challenge for me to offer the training only in English and teach my second language. Many people asked me: "Why are you an English teacher? You are Japanese." At first I couldn’t reply to this question. However, I found my answer. Read

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan and Perth, Australia: Volunteers engaged via the UNV Online Volunteering service have been helping to design youth policy for the Government of Kyrgyzstan. Read

Kiev, Ukraine: Building civil society in the former Eastern bloc countries presents some unique challenges. Along with local partners, UNV and UNDP are working together to boost the role of volunteerism there. Read

There were four of us, UNV Interns, at the Sub-Regional Retreat organized in the summer of 2007 by the UNV country offices in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. We had a retreat recently, and it was a wonderful experience. We had the possibility to get to know the realities in these three countries, to bond and feel like ONE Central Asia Team and to enjoy the glorious scenario of Issyk-Kul lake, in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

For us, it was the perfect occasion to share our feelings and experiences and to compare how each succeeded in adapting to a completely new working and living reality. We discussed similarities and differences of the three Central Asian countries and compared our UNV experiences, which we found very different among each other, though  equally challenging and important in the personal growth of all of us. Read

Bonn, Germany: In 2006, over 7,500 UNV volunteers supported communities, non-governmental and civil society organizations as well as governments all over the world to foster sustainable development. In more than 140 countries, UNV volunteers, the majority of whom hail from developing countries themselves, worked in key areas such as poverty reduction, crisis recovery, elections support, governance and HIV/AIDS. Read

Bonn, Germany: In 1996, Kyrgyzstan was the last country in the world to be removed from the World Health Organization’s list of countries considered HIV free. Read