Online Volunteers have been mobilizing support for a community-run training programme in Nairobi, Kenya.
When Esther Munene and Lilian Kamigwi founded Destiny Shapers, a community-based-organization working to provide literacy training to young children in the Korogocho slum in eastern Nairobi, Kenya, they had to work hard to convince the families of the 23 children to allow them to attend the daily classes.
My identity as a Latina lesbian woman from the Brazilian northeast (the country’s poorest region), with a thing for human rights and social justice issues, is an element that has always guided me when making decisions about the type of career I wanted to pursue and the type of organization I would like to work for. It was through an assignment as United Nations Volunteer, joining the Human Rights team at UN Brazil’s Resident Coordinator’s Office, that I earned the privilege of becoming one of these people who love their jobs and truly believe in what they do.
As a UN Volunteer, part of my assignment is supporting the implementation of the UN Free & Equal campaign in Brazil. Free & Equal is a global, unprecedented initiative by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), launched in 2013, to promote equal rights and fair treatment for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI). In Brazil, our national UN Free & Equal campaign was launched in 2014.
UNV became operational in the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) when it first deployed on 1 October 2003. From then until the end of the Mission’s mandate in March 2018, more than 1,200 UN Volunteers from more than 80 nationalities supported the Mission in substantive, administrative and technical areas.
UNV’s ability to rapidly deploy highly qualified volunteers in large numbers made a difference for UNMIL in the early days. UNV participated in a Technical Assessment Survey of the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations before the Mission deployed. Closely involved in the Mission’s planning, UNV was able to deploy 48 volunteers in January 2004 alone, sending in 225 UN Volunteers by the end of the year.
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme and Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) in Japan launched a pilot initiative under the UN Youth Volunteer category in June 2013. During 2013-2014, 24 UN Youth Volunteers were deployed to UN entities worldwide. Since 2015, the programme has expanded, with 17 university students selected annually from nine partner universities to serve as UN University Volunteers for 5-month assignments.
UNV partners with nine universities, who fund UN University Volunteer deployment under the KGU Programme. These include: Kwansei Gakuin University, Osaka University, Akita International University, Sophia University, Tsukuba University, Toyo University, Meiji University, Meiji Gakuin University and Rikkyo University.
Nelly Mandengue (fully funded by France) serves as a UN Volunteer with UNDP in the Central African Republic. Jean-Pierre Kisamare (Burundi) is a UN Volunteer Digital Communications Officer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Libya. Serving in different parts of the continent, Nelly and Jean-Pierre share how they advocate for the legal mechanism addressing violations of human rights and promote awareness of sustainable development through their assignments in communications.
COMMUNICATING IN SUPPORT OF RULE OF LAW AND NATIONAL RECONCILIATION
Partners for Prevention (P4P) is a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional joint programme for the prevention of violence against women and girls in Asia and the Pacific. After 10 years of operation, the project came to a close in March of this year. A final report on the programme assessed the role volunteerism played in the primary prevention of such violence.
Partners for Prevention (P4P) is a UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV regional joint programme for the prevention of violence against women and girls in Asia and the Pacific. After 10 years of operation, the project came to a close in March of this year. A final report on the programme assessed the role volunteerism played in the primary prevention of such violence.