Making knowledge count from Bangladesh to the Blue Pacific

Anamul Haque, UN Volunteer Knowledge Management and Monitoring Officer with UNICEF
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The Pacific is a region of breathtaking beauty and deep geographic complexity—14 island nations scattered across the vast ocean, each with its own culture, challenges, and hopes for development. It’s here, in this vibrant yet vulnerable part of the world, that I found my calling. I’m Anamul Haque, and in July 2024, I joined the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Pacific as UN Volunteer. My mission? To help ensure that every child—no matter how remote their island—has access to health, education, and protection.

As a Knowledge Management and Monitoring Officer, I work behind the scenes to make sure our programmes across 14 island nations that are part of UNICEF’s Pacific Multi-Country Office are smarter, faster, and more impactful. I lead efforts to simplify how we collect, share, and use information across the region.

Writing a chapter of migration in Ecuador

United Nations Volunteers
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Migration regularization is the process by which a country grants legal status to non-nationals living there without proper documentation. This process aims to protect their human rights—in particular, to reduce exploitation, and further to improve data accuracy on labour markets and migration. In Ecuador, volunteers played a crucial role in the registration and regularization efforts for migrants.

United Nations Volunteers (UNV) collaborated with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the Ecuadorian government to deploy more than 250 UN Volunteers in Ecuador. The government ministries, namely the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion, the Ministry of the Interior, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, played a vital part in making this happen. 

Kazakhstan establishes the first National Committee for the International Volunteer Year 2026

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The committee was formally launched in Astana on 12 May 2025, in a meeting attended by government officials, civil society representatives, private sector, and Toily Kurbanov, Executive Coordinator of United Nations Volunteers (UNV).   

Change your perspective—disability is not inability

Gustavo Aparicio, UN Volunteer Legal Assistant with IOM
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Disability is a human condition that can touch anyone's life at any moment. For me, it began at birth with a physical and motor disability. But the truth is, disability can emerge at any stage of life, altering the course of one's journey. The real obstacles we face are not rooted in medical conditions—they are woven into the fabric of our society, culture, and structures. This powerful message is part of the outreach at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), where I am a UN Volunteer. And I hold it close to my heart: disability is not inability.

Human rights and protecting vulnerable people have always been my focus, especially as someone living with a disability. My experience in labour and administrative law helps me fight for fairness and inclusion.

Volunteering across continents

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Through service and cultural exchange, a young volunteer brings hope to Bolivia and finds strength in self-growth.

In late March, 22-year-old Wu Miao concluded her volunteer service with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Bolivia, a Spanish-speaking country in South America. Wu is a fully funded UN Volunteer from China under the UNV partnership with the Chinese Young Volunteers Association (CYVA) and the China International Centre for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE).

As a student of economic statistics at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, Hubei province, Wu vividly recalls coming across the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) recruitment notice in May 2024. Without hesitation, she applied. 

"I've always been passionate about volunteering and want to make a positive impact," she explained.

This passion was evident throughout her university years. For three years, Wu was an active member of a public welfare committee, organizing and overseeing more than 15 volunteer events.

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