Luang Prabang, Lao PDR: After graduating from high school in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR, Saysomone Bunsud had only very few opportunities open to her. For two years, she stayed at home, helping her parents work the family rice fields. Read

Rajasthan, India: In India's Rajasthan State, national UN Volunteer and water specialist Kulwant Singh is deeply involved in reviving traditional rainwater conservation practices and stirring local activism as a sustainable solution to the region's recurrent water shortages Read

Bonn, Germany: UN Volunteer Solange Sandouidi fights poverty in villages with a team of 11 Burkinabe UN Volunteers. Together, they help create small farming cooperatives for cereal production or animal husbandry - two important sources of income for rural West Africans. Read

Bonn, Germany/Luxembourg : The Government of Luxembourg and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) have signed an agreement to support poor and marginalized young people living in urban areas of Burkina Faso. Read

Rome, Italy: Fifteen UN Volunteer Interns recruited and fielded in countries around the world have completed assignments under a new initiative promoting the skills of young Italian professionals in development. Several of these volunteers will discuss their experiences at a special debriefing session in Rome. Read

From its beginnings in the 1970s the UNV programme has served the special needs of small island developing states. Volunteers favour working with those in society who have extra difficulties to contend with. Thus UN Volunteer specialists have a ready empathy for countries which - over and above the hardships which face all developing nations - must overcome obstacles such as physical isolation, small scale economic and human resource base, monocrop agriculture and emigration. Read

Bonn, Germany: Mongolian President Natsagyn Bagabandi has presented former UN Volunteer Alexander Menamkat with the prestigious Friendship Medal, the highest award given to foreigners in the country. Read

Bonn, Germany: Volunteerism can "build the foundations for the construction of caring cities," Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the UN Volunteers programme, told the Istanbul + 5 Special Session of the UN General Assembly late Friday. Read

Bonn, Germany: The United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV) today launched a new initiative to open up opportunities for city-to-city cooperation in least developed countries. Read

Bonn, Germany: Least developed countries (LDCs) need citizen participation through volunteers and self-help groups to promote and sustain social development, Sharon Capeling-Alakija, Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers programme (UNV), said today. Read