In Nepal, UNICEF supported the Government of Nepal to ensure widespread measles and rubella vaccination for children. In four key provinces, 281,233 children aged 9 to 11 months were vaccinated.  As a Social Behaviour Change Officer, Ashok Kumar Joshi has brought his expertise to UNICEF’s immunization programme since September 2023. He contributes to raising awareness among mothers, caretakers, and decision-makers on the importance of timely vaccination.

It is a crisp Monday morning in September 2023. The bus from East Brunswick, New Jersey, starts its journey towards the Port Authority terminal in New York. I am about to begin my first day as the new Chief of the Operational Support and Quality Assurance Branch at the Policy and Strategy Division of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Just as the bus transports me from point A to B, I am whisked away by a train of thought.

Binod Chand, Bikas Jha, Kushal Limbu, Madhusudan Ghimire and Shraddha Thapa are UN Volunteer Infrastructure Asset Management Associates. They serve with the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), in Nepal. While engaging with key stakeholders and elected officials, the group of five invest time to fully understand the impact of existing policies, laws and regulations on municipal asset management and areas of reform and improvement.

Nabin supports refugees through durable solutions and community-based protection. This includes counseling refugees, and serving in areas of child protection and prevention, and gender-based violence.  My innate passion for serving displaced people, particularly refugees, motivated me to work in this area and to be a UN Volunteer,” says Nabin.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased demand for remote work and data access. At the same time, countering stereotypes and misinformation has become necessary for the progress of the pandemic response efforts. However, in many countries, the information systems and architecture necessitated by remote environments have lagged behind. As a result, access to health information and healthcare has been complicated.

Jainarayan Singh is a 31-year old Medical Doctor from India, currently on a two-year UN Volunteer assignment with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Somalia. In his role as Health Manager ad interim and Medical Doctor, Dr. Singh is responsible for overseeing medical care and health support for the 1,050 UN staff (and 4,000 dependents) in-country, ensuring that humanitarian workers and other staff are fit and able to continue delivering essential services.

According to UNICEF-WHO Joint Monitoring Programme data from 2015, only 16 per cent of the population in Eritrea have access to basic sanitation facilities and 76 per cent  practice open defecation. I support my team in achieving SDG 6 through planning and monitoring of programme activities and enhancing the capacity of government partners to enhance their monitoring and reporting.

When I decided to move to Kabul as an international UN Volunteer, I did not know that I was stepping into an environment where I had much more in common with my colleagues than I had ever imagined. The majestic mountains of Kabul and the post-conflict reality of Afghanistan were not the only evident similarity to my home country of Nepal. The fragility of life and an everyday commitment to positive mind-set made me feel right at home.

Following Nepal's recent constitutional transition to a federal structure and many new provincial offices being established to foster Nepal’s process to E-Governance and transparency, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme supported the LGCDP II project under the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration by deploying national UN Volunteer ICT Experts to the different provinces. 

Volunteer programmes are frequently not well integrated into their own country’s broader overseas national development programming, with potential partnerships with official mechanisms, national strategies and development actors (including the government, the private sector and the third sector) limited by a lack of trust and experience.