In Tanzania, Violence Against Women and Girls is widespread and pervasive. Patriarchal social structures and traditional gender norms perpetuate violence. Women may be socialized to accept, tolerate or even rationalize domestic and partner violence perpetuated against them. For girls, some parents prevent their girl child from attending school and insist they fail exams or encourage them to quit schooling. Furthermore, rape and child marriage result in expulsion from education as does pregnancy, all of which are considered violence or violent acts.

In Uganda, thousands of children become extremely sick and at risk of death due to unequal access to safe drinking water and poor sanitation and hygiene. Diseases like diarrhea and pneumonia, which are preventable with safe water and sanitation, remain leading causes of child mortality.

Together we heal: We heal together when we all get the care we need Adow Mohamed Ibrahim is a Somali Refugee UN Volunteer for Youth Activities. Since October 2020, he has been serving with UNHCR in Dadaab in youth programmes. 

Dejen Yehalaw Gebreslassie (Ethiopia) is an international UN Volunteer serving as an Interpreter/Translation Officer with UNHCR in Nyamata Field Office, Rwanda, which mainly engages evacuees from Libya. The evacuees temporarily reside in the Gashora Emergency Transit Mechanism (ETM).

What are your key responsibilities in this assignment?

For Fahamiya Abdou, World Environment Day is special for more than one reason. As a highly experienced environmental professional, preserving nature and the environment has always been close to her heart. But World Environment Day also marks the anniversary of her journey to joining the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) as a UN Volunteer for an ecosystem restoration project. 

"If I’m still healthy, my dream is to continue to serve as a volunteer till I’m 76, if possible. If not, I’ll have to hope to be reborn to have a new shot at it," the veteran volunteer says. Having "retired" for good in the Netherlands in 2016, his adopted home country since 2003, Rudolf was no longer fettered by the time limit for UN volunteering in the field that applies to others, non-pensioners. That same year, he jumped at an opportunity to make Rumbek his base for a new adventure, and he hasn’t looked back since.

What does a typical workday look like for you?