UN Volunteers help secure peaceful elections in Kenya

Kenya
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This year, 16 UN Volunteers were deployed across Kenya to prevent electoral violence and promote peace during the general elections held in August, helping strengthen national capacities for conflict prevention.

UN Volunteer Castro Baraza sits in his office at the Kisumu County Headquarters finalizing reports of his pre-election peace building activities. It is three weeks since the presidential results were announced, and Kisumu remains peaceful with business fully operational and the new County administration already taking charge. Castro is however still hard at work, ensuring the peace dividends are maintained and the development agenda in the region is realized.

As tide turns, volunteers offer hope to Somalia

Mogadishu, Somalia
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According to UN sources, more than five million Somalis—representing nearly half of the population—need immediate humanitarian assistance. Nearly one in five across the country were forced to abandon their home, with half of them seeking refuge abroad. With failing crops for a third consecutive year, these numbers could continue to climb. To many abroad, there is little apparent hope in the foreseeable future for the Horn of Africa. The scene in Mogadishu however suggests a shift is happening.

Volunteering for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 23) in November 2017, Germany – Registration is closed

Bonn, Germany
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Interested in helping to save the planet?  United Nations Volunteers (UNV), in collaboration with the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC), is accepting applications for volunteers to play a key role in the organisation and facilitation of the 2017 UN Climate Change Conference, COP 23, which will take place 6-17 November in Bonn, Germany.

UN Volunteers advance peace process through verification of cease fire, demobilisation and disarmament in Colombia

Victor Manuel Velasco
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In 2016, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2261 to establish the UN Mission in Colombia (UNMC), a political mission of unarmed international observers deployed across the country. Sixty UN Volunteers were mobilized to support the tasks of verifying compliance with the peace agreement between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP), accompanying and monitoring the peace process and promoting a culture of peace.

After a 50-year conflict between the Government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC-EP), the objective of the UN Mission in Colombia (UNMC) is to support cessation of hostilities and to monitor the abandonment of arms as well as the definitive bilateral ceasefire.

Stepping out of the compound—UN Volunteers are bridges to local communities in DRC

Simone Beccaria
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The UN Mission for the Stabilization of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) was established in 2010 by the Security Council to reflect a new phase reached in the country. With a strong military component, the Mission protects civilians, humanitarian personnel and human rights defenders under imminent threat of physical violence while supporting stabilization and peace. UN Volunteers form an important civilian component of the Mission, totalling more than a third of serving international personnel.

UN Volunteers represent well over a third of the international personnel within the UN Mission for the Stabilization of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Despite this important component of personnel, the Mission remains a highly-militarized peacekeeping operation.

Medical UN Volunteers at the service of health and peace in Somalia

Joseph Okalebo
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UN Volunteers provide vital health support to the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) and to many of its partners active on the ground. They provide the critical human resources necessary for the Mission to maintain healthy operations in the country, and despite all hurdles, these UN Volunteers deliver ongoing medical services and training that sustain the health of partners and UN personnel and reinforce their ability to carry on with the mandate of the UN in the country.

UN Volunteers serving with the UN Mission in Somalia (UNSOM) have a unique set of challenges. The security situation is such that independent circulation is highly restricted, if not impossible. The volatile environment poses continuous security risks both to local populations and to UN personnel.

Promoting reconciliation and peace in the Central African Republic

Davy Moundongo
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Active since 2014, the core mandate of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) is to protect civilians, promote and defend human rights, and assure the delivery of humanitarian assistance. More than 200 UN Volunteers currently serve in the country, making it one the largest deployments of civilian volunteers in UN Missions around the world.

The presence of the UN Mission since 2014 has helped save many lives and greatly improved conditions for the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance in the Central African Republic (CAR), a country where approximately 40% of the population is dependent on humanitarian assistance to survive, according to OCHA.

Beyond the call of duty, turning inmates into tailors sowing clothes for local market in Liberia

Henry Tambade
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My volunteer experience goes back to my home country, Zimbabwe, where I served as an HIV/AIDS peer educator from 2004-2007. Besides working as a Corrections Officer, I used to educate the local population on HIV/AIDS, public health, and community development. Before this assignment with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), I also served as a Government Provided Personnel (GPP) Corrections Mentor with the UNMIL Corrections Advisory Unit.

My name is Henry Tambade (Zimbabwe). I am an international UN Volunteer stationed in Monrovia, serving as Corrections Training Officer with the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) since September 2013. I have a degree in Adult Education which I obtained from the Midlands State University in Zimbabwe in 2010. I also have a diploma in the same field obtained in 2005 from the University of Zimbabwe.

Connecting with people in the midst of war in South Sudan

Waheeb Al-Eryani
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UNV supports the United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) through the deployment of highly-talented international and national UN Volunteers serving in substantive and support sections of the mission—enhancing the effectiveness of operations as well as performing key functions to achieve the mission’s mandate. I am constantly inspired by the resilience our UN Volunteers demonstrate when facing obstacles in the field. Our volunteers put themselves on the front lines and engage with local communities—an essential element to building trust and supporting the return of peace to South Sudan

As UNV Programme Manager in South Sudan, it is my privilege to support and follow the work that over 440 UN Volunteers carry out in their daily activities across 10 different states. Their efforts and contributions play an integral role in carrying out the mandate of UNMISS, namely protecting civilians, facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance, reporting human rights abuses and supporting the implementation of the peace agreement. 

World Humanitarian Day 2017

Worldwide
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Thousands of UN Volunteers have been supporting global, regional and national humanitarian crisis over the last 5 years, including through the provision of life-saving assistance to the affected communities after Typhoon Haiyan hit Philippines in 2013, support and logistics for the Ebola response in West Africa in 2014, damage assessment and debris removal after a devastating earthquake in Nepal

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