When volunteers lead the way, change becomes possible

United Nations Volunteers
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Northwest Nigeria is experiencing intersecting challenges including violence, climate-related disruptions, and economic instability. These factors have affected family structures and reduced confidence in local institutions. Armed groups have interfered with daily activities, contributing to a humanitarian crisis. Yet amidst these challenges, volunteers are stepping up—not as outsiders, but as insiders—to make change possible. Dennis Bwala and Adamu Garba share how they are helping rebuild trust and strengthen the communities they call home.

“Peacebuilding here is about patience.” In Katsina, Dennis Bwala is a UN Volunteer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Northwest Prevention Facility, and spends his days connecting local authorities, security forces, and communities that often don’t trust each other.

My role is to facilitate dialogue, strengthen partnerships, and ensure that our interventions are inclusive and neutral, so communities feel ownership over the solutions."

Are you listening to the voices on the airwaves?

United Nations Volunteers
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“What people believe shapes how they vote, how they trust, and how they live together,” says Sagar from Sierra Leone. He is one of 47 UN Volunteers in West and Central Africa supported by the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), the UN’s instrument for providing rapid, flexible support to countries emerging from conflict or facing fragility. Peace doesn’t always begin with treaties or declarations. In fragile contexts, it often starts quietly—with reliable voices on the airwaves—a training where women speak freely, or a story shared online that reflects a community’s hope. All you have to do is listen!

When international UN Volunteer Sagar Adhikari arrived from Nepal in Sierra Leone, the country was preparing for elections clouded by misinformation. Sagar led the iVerify platform, supported by the PBF, to provide citizens with reliable information. 

South-South sparks from Beijing to the world

United Nations Volunteers
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Across the Global South, countries are sharing ideas, solving problems together, and building a better future. At the heart of this movement is the Global South-South Development Center (GSSDC)—a dynamic hub for innovation and partnership, powered by the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (UNOSSC) and the Government of China. The GSSDC taps into China’s network of 50 technical institutions, making it a hotspot for collaboration, and that's where UN Volunteers—Jialin Zhang and Jingchuan Alex Mu—step in.  
 

UN Volunteers in Beijing

At China’s International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), Jialin is a young Chinese UN Volunteer Project Analyst with UNOSSC. She organizes trainings, reviews grant proposals, and drafts policy briefs that drive sustainable development in agriculture, clean energy, and poverty reduction. 

6.9 million displaced: Peace is fragile but possible

United Nations Volunteers
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In the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, silence speaks volumes. Schools stand empty. Families flee in the night. Communities carry wounds no one sees. This region is home to one of the world’s most complex humanitarian crises, with some 6.9 million internally displaced and over 5 million living in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri. Amidst this turmoil, in places like Beni and Goma, Kakessiwa Kokou Komlan and Laetitia Furaha show up every day—not for recognition, but to build peace. They are UN Volunteers.

Peace is when people can speak without fear

In Beni, Kakessiwa, originally from Togo, serves as a UN Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer at the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) Joint Operations Center. His role is to track security developments and coordinate responses between military, police, and civilian actors.

On why I volunteer: The circles of peace

Emily Kabuga, Civil Affairs Officer with UNMISS
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The circle is small but tense. We are sitting under a tree in a village in Unity State, South Sudan. Men, women, and youth lean forward on low stools. Some carry anger in their voices as they speak of cattle taken in raids. Others speak quietly about children forced into early marriages. A young man stands to confess he fears retaliation for a revenge killing.

In moments like this, my role is not to lecture or impose. It is to listen, to ask questions, to remind the group that within their own customs and traditions lie paths to peace. I have learned that people want solutions to come from themselves. My job is to create the space where that feels possible. By the end of that day, nothing dramatic had shifted. No handshake sealed a deal. But the room felt lighter. Neighbours who had stopped speaking to each other had looked one another in the eye. And for me, that was enough to keep going.

Reporting peace from the minefields of South Sudan

Premdeep Kaur Bahra, UN Volunteer with UNMISS
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The lead deminer raised his hand—and silence swept across Amadi. A dog stepped forward, nose trained to detect danger buried deep in the soil. Children watched from a distance, eyes wide with fear, hope, and curiosity. We were in Durupi, Central Equatoria State—a community that had long abandoned its fields due to explosive remnants of war. Farming had stopped. Life had paused. But on this morning, the United Nations Mine Action Service, the National Mine Action Authority, and their partners showed what reclaiming safety looks like. With protective gear, precise steps, and canine partners, they turned fear into farmland.

I stood among the community and colleagues from the Mission and across the UN agencies, watching hope return. My work often happens behind a desk—drafting reports, shaping data, telling South Sudan’s story. But moments like this remind me: the words I write carry the weight of real lives. And this is why the work matters. 

Peace begins with people: A UN Volunteer's story from Guinea-Bissau

United Nations Volunteers
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In Guinea-Bissau, communities are navigating daily uncertainty caused by instability and crime. Standing with them are UN Volunteers—one of them, Christian Menin, is from Brazil. He is a Project Manager with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), through the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund (PBF)—a key UN mechanism for supporting peacebuilding efforts in fragile settings.   

Christian works hand in hand with local institutions to rebuild trust and empower communities. He collaborates with police and justice officials, providing training to combat organized crime, corruption, and money laundering. In remote border areas, he helps install solar-powered systems so police posts can stay connected and equipped. These efforts are part of a broader peacebuilding initiative aimed at building trust in public institutions and making communities feel safer.

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