Our mission: Mobilize volunteers

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Once primarily a provider of volunteers to the United Nations (UN) system in support of programme countries, UNV has evolved in terms of the size and spread of its mandate, results and activities, driven by the changing external environment for peace, development and the eradication of poverty, by the wider acknowledgment of the role of volunteerism globally and by intergovernmental legislation.

Executive Board decision 2006/18 confirmed UNV’s business model, leading to UNV being operational in three domains:

Our mission: Promote volunteerism

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The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme has evolved greatly over the past 50 years in terms of the size and spread of its mandate, results and activities, driven by the changing external environment for peace, development and the eradication of poverty, by the wider acknowledgment of the role of volunteerism globally and by intergovernmental legislation.

In 2006, the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board confirmed UNV’s business model, leading to UNV being operational in three domains:

Volunteerism as a mode of enhancing youth engagement in environmental governance

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Volunteerism, as a form of civic participation, can be a powerful mechanism for giving youth a voice in decision making and promoting social inclusion in environmental governance within the post-2015 development framework.

Nairobi, Kenya: The transition from the year 2015 to the year 2016 marked a remarkable moment in environmental governance for sustainable development globally. The world gained a set of universally agreed development goals, a financing for development agreement, and even more critical for the global environment, the Paris climate change agreement that finally promised to cap global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.

Helping improve the rule of law

Miguel Mateos Muñoz
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During my UN Youth Volunteer assignment in the front office of MINUSTAH, I coordinated the work related to the rule of law mandate. Though mostly desk work, my post included regular trips to the field to better understand the situation in different regions of Haiti.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti:  After working for the Spanish government, several media outlets, EU institutions and NGO networks, I decided my future was working for the United Nations. The UN represents all the values I believe in and could specifically focus on human rights and migration issues.

Helping bring hope to people’s lives

Marco Tesser
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I am serving as a UN Volunteer Relief, Reintegration and Protection Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). I had been a UNV intern sponsored by the Government of Italy in 2004 in Sudan with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after which I worked for an NGO.

Bentiu, South Sudan: I am serving as a UN Volunteer Relief, Reintegration and Protection Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

I had been a UNV intern sponsored by the Government of Italy in 2004 in Sudan with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), after which I worked for an NGO.

Ensuring safety of air operations in South Sudan

Khurshid Dilresh
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I am working as a UN Volunteer Fire Safety Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan. During the civil unrest of 2013, I remained in the mission throughout that period to ensure the safe operation of UNMISS air assets. It was a time when everybody in the mission worked tirelessly to relocate casualties from conflict areas across the country to save human lives.

Juba, South Sudan: I am working as a UN Volunteer Fire Safety Officer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS). My main field of work is Aviation, though I also have knowledge of structural fire safety. 

Different Needs, Equal Opportunities: Mainstreaming Gender into Humanitarian Actions

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In my assignment as an international UN Volunteer for the Regional Humanitarian Program for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) for West and Central Africa in Dakar, one of my duty is to make sure that humanitarian actions incorporate issues of gender and diversity.

Dakar, Senegal:  In my assignment as an international UN Volunteer for the Regional Humanitarian Program for the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) for West and Central Africa in Dakar, one of my duty is to make sure that humanitarian actions incorporate issues of gender and diversity.

This process aims at ensuring that the needs of women, girls, men and boys of all ages are taken into consideration during Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) and the actual execution phase itself.

Bringing hope and social cohesion in post-conflict Côte d’Ivoire

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I served as UN Volunteer head of the public information office of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) in Daloa, the third largest city of the country. My duty was to use all public information means to create a peaceful environment, to build confidence and help the people of the region fulfil their dreams of peace and reconstruction in an environment of stability, security and cohesion.

Daloa, Côte d’Ivoire: I served as UN Volunteer head of the public information office of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) in Daloa, the third largest city of the country. My duty was to use all public information means to create a peaceful environment, to build confidence and help the people of the region fulfil their dreams of peace and reconstruction in an environment of stability, security and cohesion.

"Volunteer experiences provide the insights and satisfaction for my work"

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Since early childhood, my life has been driven by two factors: my love for knowledge instilled in me by my parents, and my efforts at being understood and appreciated.


Peshawar, Pakistan: My name is Hina Yousafzai and I am from Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in Pakistan. I am currently working as a UN Volunteer supporting the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Recovery Project carried out by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the capacity of Reporting & Monitoring Associate based in Peshawar.

Since early childhood, my life has been driven by two factors: my love for knowledge instilled in me by my parents, and my efforts at being understood and appreciated.

We are 2030!

Bangkok, Thailand
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For the first time the world agreed that youth empowerment is a way to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This presents enormous opportunities and expectations on young people. How can the UN support, empower and prepare youth to be the driving force for the SDGs? In Asia and the Pacific, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, jointly with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), are developing a regional partnership with and for youth to deliver on the SDGs by 2030.

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