What endures when bombs fall?

United Nations Volunteers in the Arab States
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I interviewed Yeran Kejijian while bombs were falling and large areas of the country, including the South, parts of the East, and Beirut were being heavily targeted. She is the UNV Country Coordinator for the Multi-Country Field Unit covering Lebanon and Syria. Four international UN Volunteers have been evacuated so far, while few national UN Volunteers have been relocated to safer areas.  Of them, some are working remotely. “It does not happen with warning. It happens under the bombs,” Yeran says while speaking of relocations. One of the UN Volunteers told her, “I had to leave my home at 3 a.m. I didn’t take my laptop. My concern was my family.” She continues, “People do not know when they will be able to return or whether they will find anything to return to. And this is ongoing. There is no clear sense of when it will end.”  

The recent conflict in Lebanon started on 2 March 2026. According to UN reports, more than 1,200 people have been killed, including humanitarians, paramedics, and journalists, and more than 3,400 have been injured. 

Even in the darkest hour, Yeran speaks of solidarity, empathy and the quiet strength that emerges when people choose to stand together. “It’s not just volunteering anymore—it has the heart in it. You are supporting your neighbour, your people, anyone who is suffering from what’s happening.” 

Let’s hear from Yeran on what endures when bombs fall. 

“Volunteering in Lebanon during conflict

Volunteering in Lebanon right now is not about signing up, wearing a badge, or ticking a box. It is about grabbing a bag at 3 a.m. and running. It is about cooking food for strangers during Ramadan while your own home may no longer exist. It is about opening public schools as shelters, entertaining displaced children in classrooms that no longer function as schools and finding ways to keep people human when everything else is falling apart.

Terms of use of the Unified Volunteering Platform

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UNV Web Privacy Policy

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II. What Information does UNV collect?
 

Anonymous Site Usage
In general, you can browse the UNV sites without telling us who you are or revealing any personal information about yourself. We gather general browsing data from standard server logs. These include your IP (Internet Protocol) address, domain name, browser type, operating system and information such as the website that referred you to us, the files you downloaded, the pages you visit and the dates/times of those visits, as well as anonymized demographic data.

In Memoriam: Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney

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The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) marks with sadness the passing of Dr. Brenda Gael McSweeney, former Executive Coordinator of UNV, who died in her hometown of Needham, Massachusetts, on 11 March 2026 at the age of 82.

The Paradox of Invisible Contributions

Professor Samuel Manda, University of Pretoria
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Some of the most important contributions people make to society, especially volunteering and other community‑sustaining actions, remain largely invisible in our statistics and data systems. Since I have been working with data, I have noticed a persistent paradox: society's most important contributions remain the least visible in our statistics. This insight has markedly influenced my thinking as a statistician and researcher, especially in how we gauge social progress and development.

Across communities in the Global South and worldwide, people dedicate their time, skills, and energy to help others—often without expecting recognition or reward. Consider the community-based groups in Kenya that support research and conservation initiatives for animals and wildlife, the volunteer firefighters in Australia who battle devastating bushfires, or the youth groups across Latin America organizing neighbourhood clean-ups and immunization campaigns. 

誰も数えていない、世界最大の“労働力”

トイリー・クルバノフ　国連ボランティア計画（UNV）事務局長
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いかなる合理的基準から見ても、ボランティア活動は世界の安定を支える最大規模でありながら、最も理解されていない仕組みです。国連ボランティア計画（UNV）が最近発表した『世界ボランティア活動状況報告書』によると、年間を通じて約21億人、すなわち世界の労働年齢人口のおよそ3分の1が何らかの形でボランティア活動に参加していると推計されています。つまり、ボランティアは経済的余裕のある人々の余暇的な趣味ではなく、社会全体に広がる大規模な市民活動なのです。そこには、よく知られた国連やNGOのボランティアだけでなく、炊き出しを運営する地域住民、互助活動に取り組む若者、国の支援が届きにくい地域で非公式のセーフティネットを維持する女性たち、遠隔地のコミュニティと知識を共有するためオンラインで活動する企業ボランティアなども含まれます。

つまり、各国政府は、予算項目に記載されることのない“事実上の国家ボランティア隊”をすでに抱えていると言えます。市民は保健福祉、教育支援、災害対応、社会的ケアなどの公共財を、行政データには現れない形で共に生み出しています。近年多くの国の制度は、この市民の努力を見えない偶発的なものとして扱うのではなく、積極的に認識し連携しようとする方向へと変化しつつあります。2025年には23か国がボランティアが持続可能な開発目標（SDGs）に与える前向きな影響を、国連に提出した「2030アジェンダ」に関する自発的国家レビュー（VNR）の中で認めました。

しかし、その規模と重要性にもかかわらず、ボランティア活動に関する質の高い比較可能なデータは依然として不足しています。各国のデータは断続的であり、定義も大きく異なり、非公式なボランティア活動は体系的に過小評価されているのです。

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