Volunteering, the very foundation of development
All around us, we see civic engagement growing – from small community actions to international ones, and from human rights to ecology, we see movements seeking change. People want to contribute to a common good cause and that is why they organize themselves. It is an essential human need to be part of a social network, part of a community and this is the very essence of volunteerism.
We live at a time of disruption, witnessing the effects of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, which threatens to reverse progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals. The complexity of the issues we need to address on this path demands that we all work together, in much broader partnerships, connecting various areas of expertise to develop integrated development solutions.
Completing the symphony through inclusion in Uzbekistan
Hudoykul Hafizov is a soft-spoken, locally recruited UN Volunteer serving with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Uzbekistan as a Disability Inclusion Specialist. He is often amazed by how resilient, ambitious and steadfast human beings can be, especially those like him with disabilities.
Hudoykul grew up in Urgut district in the Samarkand region of Uzbekistan. He said that as a child, he learned to always put in that “extra effort” to “fit in” so that others would accept him. And he did fit in – excelling at most subjects in national and international law at university.