The COVID-19 Response Programme is jointly implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Women. The programme is supported by the governments of Finland, Italy and Sweden with the consent to remobilize USD 3.1 million to respond to the pandemic in Kenya.

According to the State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020 Report, more than 312,000 people lost their lives and 277 million were affected by climate-related events between 1998 and 2020; the severe droughts in the southern Amazon were the worst in 50 years, while in Central America, a record of 30 storms a year was recorded with 8 million people affected.

Mme. President, Members of the Executive Board, Mme. Associate Administrator, I am honoured to present the Strategic Framework of UNV for 2022-2025. In line with UNV tradition at the Executive Board, let me start by inviting you to watch a short video of UN Volunteers in action.

Mme. President, Members of the Executive Board, I am pleased to introduce this session presenting the new Strategic Framework 2022-2025 for the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) Programme. Please allow me to highlight some of the key elements of the framework – and the close cooperation between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNV – before Mr. Kurbanov takes the floor to speak to the Framework in greater detail. This Strategic Framework is the third such one for UNV, with the previous two covering the years 2014-2017 and 2018-2021.

What motivated you to become a UN Volunteer? Led by a strong and innate desire to contribute to making a better world, I have dreamed of working for the UN since I was a child. The UN Volunteers programme provided me with a great opportunity to be a part of the organization and fulfill that dream.

In line with the theme of IVD 2021, Volunteer Now for Our Common Future, partners across the Pacific came together to honour volunteers striving to address development challenges in their communities. 

In Thailand, the UNV Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific marked IVD 2021 together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Across the region, people volunteered to raise awareness of the need for urgent action for humanity’s future. Thousands more pledged to continue volunteering every year. UN Volunteers are important to our work with forcefully displaced persons in the region – thanks to them, we are able to reach people in need. --Ms Clementine Nkweta-Salami, Regional Bureau Director for the East, Horn and Great Lakes Regions of Africa, UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said in her social media message

IVD this year coincided with the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. Country volunteer awards were organized on the occasion in several countries, including in Egypt, Jordan and Tunisia. Another highlight of IVD 2021 in the Arab States included the launch of Al Hussein Bin Abdullah II Award for Voluntary Service by HRH Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan.

Under a partnership with the Government of the Russian Federation established in 2018, UNV is offering UN Volunteer assignments in different areas of expertise for Russian nationals.