Making a difference in the lives of refugees in Somalia

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Deny Beryan Saputra is an international UN Volunteer Specialist. He is from Indonesia and serves as Associate Operational Data Management Officer in Somalia since April 2022. Deny says volunteering allows him to utilize his skills while also helping him to gain broader experience and contribute to his career growth. Below is his volunteering story.

Everyone has the power to make a difference in the world. Driven by this conviction, I started my UN Volunteer assignment with the UN's Refugee Agency, UNHCR in Somalia.

The humanitarian context grapples with multiple displacement complexities. 

I am stationed in Hargeisa in Somaliland.

I am deeply involved in the collection, management, and analysis of data on persons of concern, including asylum seekers, refugees, returnees, and internally displaced people. 

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Hazrat Inayat Khan
01.12.2023

Inclusion: The path to development

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Adam Sacko: Overcoming Adversity
30.11.2023

Adam Sacko: Overcoming Adversity

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Osama Nawahda
29.11.2023

Determination brings forth resilience

From Somalia, a lesson on service to humanity

UNV in Somalia
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Joel Gallardo (Peru) served as a UN Volunteer with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Somalia between 2021 and 2022. He was the focal point for the Programme Unit in Kismayo and Jubaland during a drought emergency in Somalia. He shares the lessons he gained during his UN Volunteer assignment.

What were the key highlights of your responsibilities during your assignment with UNHCR Somalia?
I was the programme focal point in Kismayo and Jubaland, covering four field units. I supported the Mogadishu sub-office, monitoring and reporting on key indicators and other information requested by partners.  As the field unit programme focal point in Kismayo, I coordinated activities such as capacity building sessions with communities. I interacted with counterparts in different town and regions and regularly visited the people of concern that we served.

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Liliane Akdata, smiling warmly, sits outside wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a black and white horizontal zig-zag pattern. It is such a sunny day that the greenery behind her seems to glow.
28.11.2023

Turning obstacles into opportunities: meet Liliane Akadata

Collective action for sustainable cities in Iraq

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Iraq is navigating its path from recovery to development after years of conflict, and at the heart of this effort are UN Volunteers with UN-Habitat. As we mark International Volunteer Day, the service of UN Volunteers to Iraq's development context stands as a testament to the power of collective action for positive change.

Abdelmohsin Elzair and Elsadig Saeed are international UN Volunteer Experts from Sudan. They serve as Supervising Engineers mainly in Ninewa located in northern Iraq. Among their shared accomplishments - construction of residential complexes, the rehabilitation of houses, and the establishment of public infrastructure including portable water networks.

Elsadig leads and manages various construction and infrastructure projects through all phases in various areas in Ninewa Governorate.

From climate pledge to impact on the ground

UNV partners with UNDP
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Thibault Lepivain, an international UN Volunteer Climate Knowledge and Policy Specialist with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the Bangkok Regional Hub served from the end of 2022 to early 2024. He believes climate change is the most significant crisis of our time, and engaging in projects that address it, imbues a sense of pride and purpose. At the same time, being at the forefront of witnessing what the world might resemble by the turn of the century, coupled with lagging global efforts, elicits emotions of anxiety and powerlessness.

Thibault's volunteering journey with the United Nations spanned from end of 2022 to early 2024. He supported, “Leveraging Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) to Achieve net-zero emissions and climate-resilient Development, in Response to the Climate Emergency,” a project implemented in partnership between the Government of Japan and UNDP’s next phase of the Climate Promise: From Pledge to Impact.

Volunteering – ‘Do what you can because you can.’

Dr. Sathya Doraiswamy, Chief of the Operational Support and Quality Assurance Branch at the Policy and Strategy Division of UNFPA, New York
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In the realm of humanitarian service, few stories are as captivating as that of Dr. Sathya Doraiswamy. Eighteen years ago, he embarked on a transformative path as a UN Volunteer, igniting a passion that would shape his remarkable career in the United Nations. Sathya recently joined UNFPA as the Chief of the Operational Support and Quality Assurance Branch at the Policy and Strategy Division of UNFPA, New York after serving as UNFPA’s Representative in the Islamic Republic of Iran for two years. As he looks back on the memories of the volunteering journey, and his professional trajectory that has never been short of success, he encapsulates the essence of those who selflessly offer their time and hearts to uplift others. In his words: "Volunteers may have nothing on their hands, but they have hearts beating to the rhythm of others' joy and laughter."

It is a crisp Monday morning in September 2023. The bus from East Brunswick, New Jersey, starts its journey towards the Port Authority terminal in New York. I am about to begin my first day as the new Chief of the Operational Support and Quality Assurance Branch at the Policy and Strategy Division of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). Just as the bus transports me from point A to B, I am whisked away by a train of thought.

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