At the time of the earthquake, more than 70 UN Volunteers were serving with 10 UN partners in some 19 duty stations across Myanmar. About one-third of these volunteers are now part of the recovery efforts on the ground with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the World Health Organization (WHO). The guiding principle here was to recruit local volunteers who knew their communities and were from within the system.
UNV releases new research on volunteer work among older persons
Research shows that the world population has been growing older for decades and today is more aged than ever. By 2070, it's expected that 20 percent of people will be aged 65 or older. However, this increase won't be the same everywhere. In regions like Eastern Asia, the share of older people will rise to over 40 percent, while in sub-Saharan Africa, it will stay below 20 percent.
Don't simply count women, make women count
A native of Libya, Amera Markous is a UN Volunteer serving with UN Women. Seeing how disproportionately crises and displacement affect women more than men, Amera took it upon herself to do something for women, and she chose to do so through volunteering. She is a lead researcher on migration issues. But it's her trainer role that gives her that leeway to interact with women who are facing challenges in Libya.
Following the 2011 revolution in Libya, Amera got an opportunity to coordinate educational programmes for underprivileged children in Tripoli. She then took up a UN Volunteer assignment with UN Women.
"Reflections on my volunteer path from Germany to Kenya"
Alexandra Rank is a German UN Volunteer currently serving as a Digital Monitoring and Reporting Officer with the Communications Division at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi. Her journey with the United Nations began in 2021 through the Carlo Schmid Programme. This followed UN Volunteer assignments in 2022 as a Youth Volunteer and then in a Specialist role in 2024. With a background in journalism and a deep commitment to environmental communication, Alexandra reflects on the path that brought her to Nairobi and the insights gained along the way.
"I have always been drawn to investigative research—understanding what’s happening in the world and exploring the political landscape. I feel most connected at the intersection of communication, journalism, and environmental issues. My awareness of the environmental injustices began after high school, when I volunteered with a local NGO in Uganda through Weltwärts, a programme supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)," shares Alexandra.
Scaling up health interventions in Türkiye
On World Health Day, we recognize the contributions of UN Volunteers who raise awareness about Sustainable Development Goal 3. One of them is Daisy Lanvers, a Health Economic Analyst with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Istanbul Regional Hub located in Türkiye. Daisy focuses on how diseases impact the health and economy of countries, and also how investing in health benefits everyone, both in terms of well-being and financial sustainability.
Daisy is from France. She discovered UNV while at university, and after graduating, she started a UN Volunteer assignment as a Health Economics Analyst for UNDP’s HIV and Health unit.