17 February 2003
The United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) has been in Zambia since the 1970s and works with a number of partners including the Zambian Government, other UN agencies, development banks and non-governmental organizations. Since 1991, UNV has made significant contributions to Zambia's health sector reform programme through two UNV-executed projects: HIV/AIDS prevention and care and paramedical training. The positive evaluation report of both projects in 1995 led to their extension and to an agreement with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Zambian Government to expand the HIV/AIDS project to five other districts. The National AIDS Council (NAC), through UNV, is in the process of recruiting 72 UN Volunteers who will be deployed throughout the country. The German Trust Fund mobilized US$148,000 for the HIV/AIDS activities, which has strengthened UNV's partnership in UNDP activities.
UN Volunteers' current contribution to Zambia
Currently, there are 21 UN Volunteers serving in Zambia under UNDP, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UNV projects related to HIV/AIDS prevention and care, technical support, humanitarian and relief assistance and in the information and communications technology (ICT) sector. They are working as food aid monitors, UNV field officers with UNHCR, UNV humanitarian support officers, transportation managers, reproductive health specialists with UNFPA, emergency officers in disaster and mitigation, information technology specialists and research and development specialists.
Zambia's Contribution to UN Volunteers
There are 21 Zambian's serving as UN Volunteers across Africa, Europe and Asia. Six are supporting the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL). Of the six, two are district electoral officers; one works as an airops specialist and the other is a civil affairs officer. A Zambian obstetrician helps to reduce maternal mortality in the country, and the last Zambian in Sierra Leone is a UNV external relations and resource mobilization specialist. In Timor-Leste, two are supporting the peacekeeping mission by serving as a civil registration officer and a finance assistant. The remaining Zambian UN Volunteers are: working as a geographical information system (GIS) remote sensing manager in the Democratic Republic of Congo; a UNV administrative assistant in Eritrea; a HIV/AIDS community home-based care specialist in Botswana; a social planner in Gambia supporting a decentralization and local empowerment initiative; a participatory development specialist in Lesotho assisting communities in development planning; a small business development specialist in Maldives; a Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) funded food security and nutrition regional coordinator in Namibia; a United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNHCS) sponsored assistant to the urban management expert in Yugoslavia, an Information Technology specialist in Zimbabwe and a UNHCR-funded lawyer in Sudan.
