The event, held in Bangkok, Thailand, to mark the UN Day for South-South Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific, was attended by UN partners, government representatives and other stakeholders, while many others also participated online.
Volunteerism is important in ensuring participation, and in localizing the Sustainable Development Goals and accelerating action on the ground. --Ms Pattarat Hongtong, Director-General of TICA, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Along with the challenge of tackling the worst public health emergency of the century comes the responsibility to show solidarity across sectors and generations. This responsibility is willingly assumed by volunteers ready to help their communities face the crisis everywhere around the world. A pertinent example is Kosovo*, where youth constitutes the majority of the population. Here, UN Community Volunteer Tatjana Nedeljkovič (25) assists her neighbours in becoming more resilient amidst the pandemic , with the supported by the joint UN Youth for Kosovo project.
During her assignment at the Forum for Development and Multi-ethnic Cooperation (FDMC), Tatjana visited healthcare workers in local health centres, partook in a creative information campaign to raise the awareness on the importance of vaccination, and delivered protective materials. Moreover, she supported social clubs and paid visits to the people of her community living in vulnerable conditions in Graçanicë/Gračanica.
Young UN Volunteers Silvija, Kristina and Meti do their part in assisting their community to overcome the challenges of COVID-19 pandemic. Although they have different educational backgrounds (music, medicine and literature), all three are members of the UN Volunteer cohort in Serbia, with the mission of being the link between the Roma community and governmental institutions.
The team of UN Volunteers in Serbia comprises 65 such dedicated young Roma as Silvija, Kristina and Meti. They have been trained to become activists, fighting for the inclusion of Roma, against discrimination and social injustice and supporting the vulnerable members of the Roma community.
"I work closely with local partners to develop integrated sexual and reproductive health services, includng maternal and adolescent reproductive health and family planning, especially for vulnerable people," Anta Diop says proudly. "In Senegal, we believe that a small daily deed can change the lives of many people. It is a real honour to participate in building communities." The 24-year-old joined the management team of the Saint Louis health district in northern Senegal a few months ago as a UN Community Volunteer.
Through their partnership, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Volunteers (UNV) programme have deployed 10 such UN Community Volunteers in the different regions of Senegal.
As the leading humanitarian organization addressing hunger, the World Food Programme assists nearly 100 million people in 83 countries each year. In 2019, WFP in the Eurasia region welcomed two UN Volunteer specialists from the Republic of Korea, who contributed to its framework through monitoring and research.
Hyo Jeong Jung, engaged with WFP in Kyrgyzstan, has just completed her assignment as UN Volunteer Migration and Employment Specialist. She successfully developed a research paper on migration and food security that will now help the programme team to integrate migration into a new food security project.
Media coverage of the story about Health Community Volunteers, trained and equipped by UN Volunteers, work in relation to COVID-19 response in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, April 2020
Media coverage of the story about Health Community Volunteers, trained and equipped by UN Volunteers, work in relation to COVID-19 response in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan, April 2020
“As a UN Volunteer, volunteerism is embedded in the heart and can be reflected at any time. When the novel coronavirus outbreak occurred in China, during the emergency, every UN Volunteer came forward to join the fight” says Zhao Tiansong, UN Volunteer serving as a Coordinator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) China’s Poverty Alleviation and Sustainable Development Project.
Zhao had just started his UN Volunteer assignment with UNDP, during the coronavirus outbreak. Having the option to also travel to his hometown for the Spring Festival, with the impending crisis in hand, Zhao decided to stay back in his duty station to support the prevention and response efforts for COVID-19 instead. Zhao’s hometown Yuhang District, Hangzhou City, in China’s Zhejiang Province, is about 1,300kms apart from his duty station in Chengbu Miao Autonomous County, Shaoyang City, Hunan Province.
The UN’s Decade of Action launches in 2020 in recognition of the fact that the SDGs are off-track - requiring new solutions, resources, and ambition. In order to leave no-one behind, the 2030 Agenda must be owned by people, implemented by people and for people.
One billion active volunteers worldwide are already making important contributions across all SDGs. In July 2020, governments and their partners will come together at the Global Technical Meeting on Reimagining Volunteerism for the 2030 Agenda to discuss what we know about the transformative potential of volunteering, and to reflect on how to maximize the impact of volunteering under the 2030 Agenda.
The United Nations Volunteers Programme and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are launching this survey as part of a series of global conversations to mark the UN’s 75th Anniversary, with a focus on the role of volunteering in building a brighter global future.
