UN Volunteers in Bangladesh provide support to refugees in issues related to education, water and sanitation, health care, research, nutrition, child care and gender, among others. Based in Cox’s Bazar, they serve with the international Organization for Migration (IOM), UN Development Programme (UNDP), UN Population Fund (UNFPA), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNICEF and UN Women.

In 2019, over 600 UN Volunteers took part in onsite trainings designed to build a community and grow the skills and competencies that are key to serving with the UN. From February onwards, COVID-19 restrictions made in-person workshops impossible. Hence, it was clear we wanted to create a virtual space to facilitate learning and enable exchange among volunteers.

We should work at improving aid effectiveness, but overall, aid provides a great tool for moving towards a more inclusive, equal world where social justice prevails. --UN Volunteer with UNICEF, Zambia

The United Nations system is gearing up its efforts to support national COVID-19 response plans in West and Central Africa. UNV is no exception. UN Volunteers add value to UN and government efforts, like Dr Philemon Niyitegeka (Rwanda), a UN Volunteer Technical Assistant in Mobile Care Strategies, serving with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Togo.

Giving clarity and certainty to UN Volunteers and their host agencies, is vital. UNV has put measures and guidelines in place to ensure duty of care for its currently serving 6,000 UN Volunteers who are deployed with over 50 UN entity partners worldwide.

I am glad that at this critical period, I am in Wuhan, together with my parents. I am not a selfless superheroine fighting against the disease for others, just no more than an ordinary resident in Wuhan. No matter how increasingly serious the situation is or how highly concerned the outsiders are, our lives continue in this homeland. Since it was confirmed there is a possibility of human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus,  I have been at home - for more than 2 months. Our compound has been strictly blocked for entry.

Newton Mutunga served as a UN Volunteer Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Officer in Darfur. Recruited in 2015, he was posted in the Marra Mountains (Jebel Marra), where armed conflict persists and increasing numbers of people have been forced to leave their homes. You can read more about Newtons’ UN Volunteer experience in Sudan here.

For our International Volunteer Day Event 2019, The UNICEF UN Volunteer colleagues are developing activities for the IVD, there will be music  perfomance, dance meetings between local and migrant cultural groups, a painting activity with migrant and colombian children and youth and a gastronomic exchange with Christmas dishes that will be prepared by people living in settlements. In the afternoon there will be a day of sports and cultural integration between the UNV community and the volunteers who support different initiatives in tha municipality.