A total of 486,460 refugees and asylum seekers are in Kenya today, 86 per cent of whom live in the Dadaab Refugee Complex and in Kakuma Refugee Camp. Most of the refugees come from Somalia and South Sudan, where humanitarian conditions have deteriorated and millions are in need of assistance. The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) leads the Kenya operation, with outstanding support from UN Volunteers serving in those camps.
EMPOWERING YOUTH REFUGEES AS VOLUNTEERS
Nairobi, 19 February 2018 - UNV’s Deputy Executive Coordinator, Mr. Toily Kurbanov, will be travelling to South Sudan and Kenya between February 19 and February 23, 2018. The mission seeks to advance volunteerism’s positive impact on provision of social services, employment, peace and reconciliation. Mr. Kurbanov will recognize the work of UN Volunteers in hardship conditions, promote volunteerism as a powerful means in achieving the Agenda 2030 and inform UNV’s partners about the organization’s new priorities in 2018-2021.
Nairobi, 19 February 2018 - UNV’s Deputy Executive Coordinator, Mr. Toily Kurbanov, will be travelling to South Sudan and Kenya between February 19 and February 23, 2018. The mission seeks to advance volunteerism’s positive impact on provision of social services, employment, peace and reconciliation. Mr. Kurbanov will recognize the work of UN Volunteers in hardship conditions, promote volunteerism as a powerful means in achieving the Agenda 2030 and inform UNV’s partners about the organization’s new priorities in 2018-2021.
Nairobi, 19 February 2018 - UNV’s Deputy Executive Coordinator, Mr. Toily Kurbanov, will be travelling to South Sudan and Kenya between February 19 and February 23, 2018. The mission seeks to advance volunteerism’s positive impact on provision of social services, employment, peace and reconciliation. Mr. Kurbanov will recognize the work of UN Volunteers in hardship conditions, promote volunteerism as a powerful means in achieving the Agenda 2030 and inform UNV’s partners about the organization’s new priorities in 2018-2021.
Nairobi, 19 February 2018 - UNV’s Deputy Executive Coordinator, Mr. Toily Kurbanov, will be travelling to South Sudan and Kenya between February 19 and February 23, 2018. The mission seeks to advance volunteerism’s positive impact on provision of social services, employment, peace and reconciliation. Mr. Kurbanov will recognize the work of UN Volunteers in hardship conditions, promote volunteerism as a powerful means in achieving the Agenda 2030 and inform UNV’s partners about the organization’s new priorities in 2018-2021.
In remote communities where access to mass media is difficult and limited, community radio plays an important role in providing rural populations with relevant development information that addresses their common needs. Enhancing People’s Participation through Community Radio is a joint project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism. Nokna Douangpanya is a national UN Volunteer who is responsible for mobilizing local volunteers, training them, and running the radio programmes.
The community radio project helps improve access to information and public services for marginalized rural communities. The radio stations are entirely run by volunteers from the communities, a diverse bunch of inspired, mostly young people, eager to learn and contribute their time and energy. They know the communities, people and various ethnic languages.
Some 14 female and 24 male young Guinean UN Volunteers have been deployed in the 33 prefectures of the country to provide technical and administrative support to the members of the Independent Prefectural Electoral Commission and the Independent Communal Electoral Commission for the next six months to achieve a peaceful and consensual election that is scheduled to take place on 4 February 2018.
Some 14 female and 24 male young Guinean UN Volunteers have been deployed in the 33 prefectures of the country to provide technical and administrative support to the members of the Independent Prefectural Electoral Commission and the Independent Communal Electoral Commission for the next six months to achieve a peaceful and consensual election that is scheduled to take place on 4 February 2018.
The Government of Sweden has partnered with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) since 2007. Sweden strongly supports the deployment of Swedish UN Volunteers, as well as UNV’s programmatic work to promote volunteerism worldwide. In fact, Sida doubled its funding in 2018 for up to 40 UNV assignments, with a strong focus on supporting refugees and migrants. Three Swedish UN Volunteers currently serving in Bolivia, Guatemala and Ukraine share their experiences below.
Alexandra Palmquist, UN Youth Volunteer in Environment and Climate Change with UNDP Bolivia
Alexandra arrived in Bolivia six months ago and works on environmental management, monitoring activities, assessing outputs, and preparing reports.
The initiatives awarded under the Youth Volunteering Innovation Challenge featured youth engaging volunteers to address social issues with the help of private sector volunteering – the SAP staff members who provided mentorships were also volunteers. The three-month mentorships enabled grantees to scale up their projects in the areas of environment, people with disabilities, and women’s economic empowerment within urban contexts, with a focus on leveraging volunteering for the localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
