Zinder, Niger: The first of 12 kindergartens aimed at preventing malnutrition among children in Niger recently opened its doors in an effort by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) to respond to the country’s ongoing food crisis. Read

Every year, nearly 11 million children die before their fifth birthday, well over 1,200 every hour of every day. Virtually all of the fatalities (99 per cent) occur in poor countries, mainly from easily preventable or treatable illnesses. Working primarily at local level with a range of development partners, the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme supports activities aimed at the successful promotion of public health care policy, strengthening institutional capacity for effective service delivery, fostering community participation and ownership, and raising awareness on critical health issues. Read

Bonn, Germany: Working with UNICEF in Mali, UN Volunteer Chouahibou Nchamoun of Cameroon is focused on reducing the country’s child mortality rate. Read

Sao Paolo, Brazil: United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme distributed information kits on volunteerism and the Millennium Development Goals to some 20,000 schools and 5,000 state in Brazil. Read

Ha Noi, Viet Nam: “Not a day goes by that I don’t feel lucky to have the opportunity to volunteer here,” says Ewout Erik Stoefs, a UN Volunteer with UNICEF Viet Nam. Ewout contributes to capacity building and improving knowledge of provincial officialson child-sensitive social policies. Read