"Built on sandy hills with 328 sunny days, one of the Brazilian favorite place for tourists looking for relax and good beaches". This is what I read nine months ago on Google search, just a moment after the phone had rung and a voice on the other part had told me that my duty station would have been this Brazilian northeast coast city. Read

This book, jointly published by the UN Volunteers programme and UN Development Programme in Brazil, contains 50 practical and successful projects on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It aims to encourage people to get involved in development and volunteering, establish new development projects and help civil society organizations with their work towards achieving the MDGs. (Read the original article in Portuguese here) Read

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Violence is part of a favela's daily life. Can this be changed? How do the residents' cope? Anika Gärtner, a German volunteer working with the UN Habitat in Brazil, tries to answer this question after visiting a slum (favela) in Rio de Janeiro. Read

Bonn, Germany: Every day, countless citizens volunteer their time, energy and skills in response to crises or people in need. International Volunteer Day (IVD) was instituted to make visible and recognize the contribution of these unknown heroes, who, by their engagement, bring their countries one step closer to the Millennium Development Goals. Read

Bonn, Germany: The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, the Inter-American Development Bank’s Inter-American Initiative on Social Capital, Ethics and Development and the UN-Habitat will launch “Cities with Heart” on International Volunteer Day, 5 December. Read