Livingstone, Zambia: A human rights presentation by Livingstone high school students and organized in part by a UN Volunteer, impresses UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon during his first visit to Zambia and encourages him about the country's future. Read

Vienna, Austria: To make the UN more relevant to young people, the UN Secretary-General announced that he will expand the United Nations Volunteers programme, to open its doors for young people, and will appoint the first-ever United Nations Special Adviser on Youth. Read

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosnia and Herzegovina continues to experience high levels of youth unemployment, social exclusion and irregular youth migration. In response, UNV has joined UNDP, UNICEF, IOM and UNFPA to implement the Youth Employability and Retention Programme. Read

San Vicente, El Salvador: "Together with the local government and the schools, we are involving the whole community and local non-governmental organizations in the production of knowledge products, school and community gardens, and climate change adaptation through volunteer actions." Read

70 online volunteers have contributed extensively, during several months, to the Peace Bag for EuroMed Youth toolkit, drafting, reviewing and translating the 191 page publication into 12 languages, as well as creating the layout and a web version. The Peace Bag, which offers practical tools to promote a culture of peace at the local and regional level across the Mediterranean, has been developed in a participatory process that involved 18 youth-led and youth-serving organizations from 14 countries in the region, coordinated by the Fundació Catalunya Voluntària. Read

Tashkent, Uzbekistan: UNDP and UNV have created a legal support website in Tashkent which is run by pro-bono legal clinicians and is designed to help the city’s residents obtain the legal advice and support they require. Read

Bogota, Colombia: Music, art, graffiti and other artistic expressions were at the centre of a Hip Hop festival organized to raise awareness amongst youth about HIV/AIDS prevention and encourage them to fight against stigma and discrimination. (Full article in Spanish) Read

Tashkent, Uzbekistan: The Ecological Boomerang project is training volunteers on issues related to ecology, sustainability and environmental responsibility. This is only the first step towards the realization of a large project aiming to have a positive impact on the environment. Read

Tashkent, Uzbekistan: It was a great honour for me, as the national IYV+10 Coordinator in Uzbekistan, to participate in the celebration of the birth of the United Nations. We provided our visitors with information about UNV activities and initiatives, and I referred people to our Facebook page, which I was happy to find most of them were already following.

These posts not only include reports about our activities, but also contain links to various competitions, educational opportunities, contests, projects and programmes that people can get involved in. Read

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: “The volunteers were able to build meaningful relationships with elderly members of the nursing home and broaden their own understanding of various elder-related issues. The initiative aims to promote awareness of volunteerism, philanthropy and community service. The very fabric of Kyrgyz society depends on the efforts of individual citizens to voluntarily reach out to those in need and lend a helping hand.” Read