In Peru, UNV partnered with two UN entities that host the highest numbers of UN Volunteers, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to carry out a talent outreach mission on the northern border of the country. 

The Peruvian towns of Tumbes, Piura, and Lambayeque are facing a triple crisis: climate change, a dengue fever outbreak and forced migration. It is estimated that 840,000 people need humanitarian assistance after heavy rains and are at risk of a possible "El Niño" phenomenon.

As a Humanitarian Affairs Officer, Lepani’s assignment focused on fostering coordination and liaison with partners in the field, with a special emphasis on the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Kiribati and Tuvalu. These countries fall under the purview of OCHA’s Office of the Pacific Islands.

Facilitating safe returns with IOM Toema Ibrahim (Egypt, 24) is a UN Volunteer Migrant Protection Assistant with the International Office for Migration (IOM) in Cairo. In his work, he is facilitating the safe return of individuals from diverse nationalities to their countries of origin, and he has worked actively on IOM’s Sudan response assisting people to their countries of origin.

UN Youth Volunteer Love-lis Liljeström (Sweden) is supporting the roll out of the crisis response of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Port Sudan. Love-lis is a Programme Liaison Affairs/Transition Affairs Assistant, and her assignment is fully funded by Sida, Sweden.

One hundred Online Volunteers were deployed with UNHCR for almost two months on a campaign that ended this week. Almost all of them were nationals of Niger. Through social media posts, they raised awareness of the rights of refugees in Niger and addressed Sustainable Development Goal 10, reducing inequalities. The posts further highlighted the urgent need to find solutions for refugees in the country – mostly from Burkina Faso, Mali and Nigeria. 

Meet  Sabilou Ibrahim, a national UN Volunteer specialist responsible for monitoring and evaluation. Sabilou recalls his first week with UNICEF Benin, where he quickly felt welcomed and motivated to start his assignment. “It just took me 72 hours to be adopted by my colleagues” he states. 

Scaling up education efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo Born and raised in a small village in Northern Sumatera, Indonesia, Astrini Simanjuntak witnessed stark inequalities in her community in terms of access to basic services, particularly among women and girls. This pushed her to pursue a master’s degree in sociology, majoring in gender.

In 2021, 24 Chinese youth took up UN Volunteer assignments to serve with 14 UN agencies around the world. Shuyi Song was one of them. Unfortunately, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Shuyi's scheduled on-site assignment was changed to a telecommuting opportunity.