Almaty, Kazakhstan: 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

UN Volunteers were also involved in the promotion of human rights in collaboration with the United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda (UNAMIR), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Programme (WFP). UN Volunteers' current contribution to Rwanda Today, there are 20 UN Volunteers serving in Rwanda working with UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, and the United Nations ... Read

Bonn, Germany: In Rwanda, a tiny, strife-torn East African country, national UNV field workers are helping widows and girl orphans raise an income in the rural areas around Umutara, Kibungo, Kigali Rural, Butare and Gitarama. Auréa Gasengayire, Drocelle Mukazayire and Hélène Muragijemariya, all Rwandans, are three of the UN Volunteer field workers taking part in a UNV programme targeting the needs of some 17,000 people. Among these are 7,200 widows and 500 orphans who survived the country's 1994 genocide. Read

Bonn, Germany: Women in Mali wear many hats. They are the household managers, the farm workers in the fields, the potters and the salespersons in the markets or along village streets. Yet despite their many skills, they find it hard to turn a profit because most work alone at home and have not had the chance to learn about marketing. This is where the UN Volunteers, the majority of them national field workers, come in. Read

Bonn, Germany: One of Rwanda's main priorities - and also one of its great challenges - is the reinsertion of some two million refugees and displaced persons (most of them widows and orphans) into the country's socio-economic life. To aid in this delicate and crucial process, 13 UNV field workers are working since early 1997 in 5 Rwandan prefectures. Read

Kibungo, Rwanda: 37-year old Jeff Crook works as a UNV with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Kibungo, Rwanda. He has been transferred temporarily to the emergency operation in Gihembe refugee camp in Byumba, where 14,000 Masisi refugees have been relocated. Read

Bonn, Germany: Twenty-five UNV lecturers will provide much-needed support to the National University of Rwanda in Butare. Efforts to resume academic activity in this African country have been considerably impeded by the lack of qualified lecturers. Read