Egypt hosted more than 250,000 registered refugees and asylum seekers in 2021. Most came from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Syria, and about 38 per cent of these refugees were under the age of 18. Commonly, refugees and asylum seekers live in rented apartments in urban centers in Egypt, making them vulnerable to fluctuating economic conditions and poverty. Many child protection issues exist in these circumstances, such as insecure accommodation, increased risk of detention, discrimination, physical and sexual violence and inaccessible essential healthcare. 

UN Volunteer Saleh Nasser, serves as an Adolescent and Youth Associate with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Jordan. He supports skills development programmes that place youth with community and business leaders who represent role models. Such programmes help to foster connections across generations through the transfer of knowledge, while equipping youth with tools for success in their future career paths.

Salomé Jacquet (France) is a UN Volunteer Local Development Specialist serving with the UN Development Programme (UNDP). She supports a project focused on supporting decentralization, governance and local development as a means of improving the living conditions of beneficiary communities. Since 2019, she has been serving as the project’s focal point for youth-related aspects.

I joined UNDP's Regional Bureau for the Arab States in Egypt as a UN Youth Volunteer Gender Security Training Associate in April 2020. In 2021, I extended my assignment as a UN Volunteer specialist until March 2022, also funded by the Government of Finland. 

Following the adoption of the Global Compact on Refugees by the UN General Assembly in 2018, and in partnership with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), UNV launched a special initiative to facilitate the deployment of people of concern with UNHCR as Refugee UN Volunteers. This enables them to engage in an income generating opportunity which also assists them in building on their competencies and skills.

According to UNHCR, there are more than 19,000 refugees and asylum seekers from 48 countries registered in Morocco (as of April 2022). Thus, Morocco is considered both a host and a transit country, which makes UNHCR’s mission crucial to ensure protection of refugees and access to asylum procedures. 

My role on a day-to-day basis consists of helping asylum seekers to substantiate their applications. This comprises interviewing asylum seekers in Morocco to find out why they request international protection and, based on their statements, evaluating their case to make a recommendation on whether their application should be accepted. 

Despite the progress Tunisia made since establishing a new constitution in 2014, there are many elements in the democratic transition that have not yet been completed. These include justice and security sector reform, anti-corruption and revision of the legal institutional framework. In addition, Tunisia is facing new challenges, such as countering terrorism and extremism.

Azhar Sholgami, Mid-fielder of Al-Diffa Team / UN Volunteer with UNDP Sudan To me, there is no greater feeling than winning a tournament. The cheering fans, your teammates, friends, and family in the crowd. It brings people together like nothing else.

Hayfa and Mohamed were both among the finalists of the UNV50 Tunisia Volunteer Award for their "innovation to inspire new forms of volunteering". Applications received for this category exhibited the different forms of creativity that volunteers used as pathways to drive inclusion and growth. But these two names stood out. Not only due to the creativity and innovative problem-solving their work demonstrated, but also their remarkable ability to engage other volunteers.