Landscape Restoration Project  Júlia Baena de Mesquita is an Environmental and Social Analyst with the World Bank in Burundi. She ensures that the World Bank’s social safeguards are applied to all the projects. By doing so, she guarantees that development is not done at any cost. This ranges from issues that stem from labour conditions to gender-based violence, and communities’ health and safety. 

Throughout my studies, I became interested in the interplay between social policy and economic growth. Hence, I decided to focus on the provision of quality education and how education systems impact social and economic development, especially in the context of Europe and Central Asia.  Serving as a UN Volunteer with the World Bank in line with my values: it enables me to have a real impact on improving people's access to social services, infrastructure and good jobs, as well as empowering young people. 

According to the country’s first national gender-based violence survey in 2017, at least half of Mongolian women are expected to experience some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime, and one in three women had suffered violence in the year prior.

Is this a coincidence or fate? The first Swiss UN volunteer has his office right across from the SEF and now works closely with the Human Security Department. To celebrate the completion of the 100th Swiss UN Youth Volunteer mission, we meet Lukas Heim, now a research fellow in the National Commission for the Prevention of Torture (NCPT) and responsible for mandates at the Swiss Center of Expertise in Human Rights (SCHR), to talk about his first assignment and what followed afterwards.

Collaborating with partners, coordinating with field offices, drafting project proposals, scheduling actions and deadlines – these tasks are the foundational components of a successful project. However, delivering these tasks efficiently also means analyzing the broader context in which the project unfolds to enhance positive and mitigate potential negative effects on the social fabric.

You were the 100th United Nations Youth Volunteer (UNYV) deployed by SEF. What is your assessment of this young talent promotion programme?

During her first months of assignment, Florence contributed to ad hoc tasks, like gathering gender-disaggregated data concerning COVID-19 together with the Bureau of Statistics in the country or assisting with drafting concept notes for new projects. Furthermore, UN Women also actively provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the pandemic all over Moldova and once, as help was needed, many colleagues and Florence were personally helping to pack hundreds of boxes for different beneficiaries.

To date in 2020, at least 71 UN Volunteer with disabilities are deployed with our UN entity partners. We say at least, because these figures only factor in those volunteers who voluntarily disclosed their disability. There are many more, serving on regular volunteer assignments.

Last year "Myropolis" gathered nearly 200 young people from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (regions) to build city of peace: teenagers participated in educational and artistic activities that helped them to learn how to conduct negotiations for peace and recovery – important knowledge when you live in the conflict affected areas. Many of participants never left their villages before "Myropolis" sessions. Situation in these lands is really fragile and challenging: no descent roads, villages are very difficult to reach, parents do not allow children even to leave the houses.

Thank you, Mr Associate Administrator, for your introduction and your – and the Administrator’s – commitment to volunteerism and your strong support to the United Nations Volunteers programme. Madame President, Distinguished delegates, Mr Associate Administrator, Ladies and Gentlemen: