Indonesia: “I was very lucky because my UNV position allowed me to work at a very grassroots level. It was a completely life-changing and formative experience and formed the way I approached development work. I learned that everything has to be grounded in local culture, in local knowledge.” Read

Timor-Leste: “As a volunteer working directly with the people in the community, I managed to share my knowledge, skills and experiences of several years and was able to make a substantial difference in the food security and livelihoods of poor and disadvantaged people through enhanced food production, improved nutrition and increased income.” Read

Oecussi District, Timor-Leste: “Through coordination meetings between all actors, we help find solutions to issues related to local access to justice, the delivery of notifications to the sub-districts, targeted logistical and administrative support during criminal hearings for victims, witnesses and accused - in a bid to ensure that all parties can ably understand, use and access justice services, without confronting any barriers” Read

Dili, Timor-Leste: Shoko Fujita, UNV Child Protection Officer with UNICEF Timor-Leste, travels throughout the country conducting interviews with members of child protection networks to prepare for a nationwide advocacy campaign to raise public awareness of children’s rights in 2012. “I expect that the campaign will help children understand their right to access social and legal services,” says Shoko. Read

Dili, Timor-Leste: As part of the UNICEF Child Protection Team, I work on reclassification of crimes in line with the Timor-Leste Penal Code and developing common data collection tools to register criminal cases involving children. This aims to promote better coordination among child protection actors including the Vulnerable Person’s Unit of National Police Timor-Leste (PNTL) and Ministry of Social Solidarity, in order to establish a case tracking system. Read