Volunteers assist bomb explosion victims in Mogadishu, Somalia

International Volunteer Day 2017
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The Aamin Ambulance service, made up of 35 nurses, paramedics and drivers, along with a fleet of ten vehicles, rush to the bomb explosion scene to offer first aid to victims and ferry the injured to hospitals in Mogadishu in Somalia.

For the past ten years the volunteers have remained true to their calling as rescuers, offering emergency medical aid to those in need. Dr. Abdulkadir Abdirahman Adan, the founder of the 24-hour free ambulance service in Mogadishu, says he was motivated to start the voluntary service by the deplorable state of health services in the city.

The role of youth in building sustainable and resilient urban and rural communities

United Nations Headquarters, New York
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The Forum

The ECOSOC Youth Forum (30-31 January 2018) will provide a platform for youth to engage in a dialogue with Member States, discuss policy frameworks and promote innovative, institutionalised approaches and initiatives for advancing the youth development agenda at national, regional and global levels with a view to promoting solutions to the global challenge of strengthening resilience and sustainable development. 

The role of youth in building sustainable and resilient urban and rural communities

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The Forum

The ECOSOC Youth Forum (30-31 January 2018) will provide a platform for youth to engage in a dialogue with Member States, discuss policy frameworks and promote innovative, institutionalised approaches and initiatives for advancing the youth development agenda at national, regional and global levels with a view to promoting solutions to the global challenge of strengthening resilience and sustainable development. 

UN Volunteer documents WHO’s emergency response in Bangladesh, one story at a time

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
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Catalin Bercaru (Romania) joined the World Health Organization (WHO) Bangladesh as an international UN Volunteer in media and communications in May last year. Since September 2017, he has been documenting WHO’s emergency response in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar area. With the exodus of well over 600,000 people from Myanmar, Catalin has been reporting on the work of WHO teams delivering critical health services to vulnerable populations and supporting partners in the field.

As an international UN Volunteer specialized in communication, Catalin was one of the first people to be sent to Cox’s Bazar to document the response of WHO Bangladesh. “Prior to the escalation of this crisis, there were already established partnerships between WHO, the government and other health partners. With the massive influx of people from Myanmar, strategies had to be adapted to this critical situation,” explains Catalin.

UN Volunteers at the UN Climate Conference (COP 23)

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UN Volunteers at the UN Climate Conference (COP 23)

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Volunteers count. Their work deserves to be counted.

Rafael Diez de Medina, Chief Statistician and Director, ILO Department of Statistics
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The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development explicitly recognises volunteer groups as stakeholders to support grassroots implementation of the 17 Goals. And yet, statistics on volunteers, the work they do, the skills and time they contribute to improve the lives of others are, for the most part, lacking. The International Labour Organisation (ILO)—in partnership with UNV—wants to change that. In this blog, ILO's Chief Statistician and Director of ILO Department of Statistics, Rafael Diez de Medina, explains the need for measuring volunteer work.

The ILO Department of Statistics and the UN Volunteers have joined forces to scale up efforts to improve the global availability, quality and use of statistics on volunteer work. Starting this month, the ILO-UNV partnership will focus on assessing the current status of volunteer work statistics around the world; engage directly with countries to identify good practices and challenges in volunteer work data collection and analysis; and develop practical survey approaches and tools to support countries’ efforts.

UNV Programme Manager in South Sudan speaks on UN Radio Miraya

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Waheeb Al–Eryani, UNV Programme Manager in South Sudan talks about role of UN Volunteers in the country.

Syrian refugee becomes a volunteer at Nea Kavala camp, Greece

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Saleh is a 37-year-old maintenance engineer who fled Syria more than a year ago. Like so many others living in camps across Greece, he brought critical skills and qualifications with him that he was eager to use – this is how he started volunteering to help the camp community.

Saleh started volunteering with the Red Cross’ water and sanitation team soon after arriving at Nea Kavala, helping to ensure people in the camp have access to clean water and safe facilities. But he played more than a technician’s role, and has been central in making sure that the Red Cross has a strong relationship with the community and listens to feedback, comments and concerns from people in the camp.

Disaster risk reduction through youth volunteerism

International Volunteer Day 2017
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Engaging with community members, 450 Youth Volunteers in Myanmar assess disaster risks, discussing the need for activities at the local level to raise awareness on Disaster Risk Reduction and increase their communities’ knowledge and skills on this subject.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in Myanmar, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), runs a Disaster Risk Reduction Youth Volunteer (DRRYV) project in support of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

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