While I was a university student, development cooperation as a field of study was just taking off in the Republic of Korea. My country was transitioning from being a recipient of development assistance to a donor country. I found an opportunity to intern at the United Nations Secretariat in New York in 2003, and after I finished studying I became a UN Volunteer. It was Korea’s history of conflict and mediation by the international community and the United Nations that originally inspired me to pursue such international experiences.

In August 2016, the Central African Government and the UN system signed off on a five-year joint project to support the creation of a Special Criminal Court, the overall objective of which is to contribute to fighting against impunity, mending the rule of law and social cohesion and supporting the process of national reconciliation. UNV’s support to the Special Criminal Court represents a component of this joint project focused on outreach activities that ensure the involvement of Central African Republic’s population, especially those particularly affected by the crimes falling under the Court’s jurisdiction. UNV leads activities that target the local communities, including youth and women, and aim to sensitize on the role, mandate and functioning of the Court.

When the biggest natural disaster on record in Sierra Leone hit Freetown on 14 August, hundreds of staff and volunteers immediately joined in the response and relief efforts to assist those affected. The scale of the disaster challenged the authorities’ existing resources, particularly for search and rescue. “I played my part. Our contribution might not have made headlines in the media but it was a significant part of the process and I feel satisfied in myself to have supported these efforts,” says Dain Kay*, a volunteer grave digger in Waterloo village.

In the aftermath of Tropical Storm Bret which hit Trinidad and Tobago in June 2017, many areas were affected by heavy rains, flooding and landslides. With the rains, some areas reported an influx of mosquitoes. Volunteers, together with the Regional Corporations, carried out damage assessments and assisted affected residents in cleaning up their homes and businesses.

Red Crescent volunteers in northern Iraq and Iran are providing urgent search and rescue and first aid to victims of the devastating 7.3 magnitude earthquake that shook the region on 12 November 2017.

Red Cross staff and volunteers worked alongside emergency officials to rescue survivors and assist desperate communities that lost their homes and loved ones in the mudslides in and around the capital Freetown in August 2017.

Since 2015, failed rains, combined with an El Nino weather phenomenon, have left millions of people across Ethiopia in desperate need of food and water. Yonas Bade, a farmer and local volunteer, decided to build a road with his own means to ensure water distribution by the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.