UN Peacekeeping is one of the largest United Nations partners of the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme. In 2019, more than 2,000 UN Volunteers served with UN Peacekeeping in 17 different missions around the world, contributing to protection and peacebuilding efforts and promoting volunteerism across the United Nations system.

Volunteering in the time of a global pandemic According to a report by United Nations Volunteers, efforts of the more than 1 billion volunteers around the world are equal to that of 109 million full-time dedicated volunteers working around the world working to improve the lives and livelihoods of their fellow human beings.

Under a new partnership with the Government of the Russian Federation, UNV is offering UN Volunteer assignments in different areas of expertise for Russian nationals.

The new Service Desk consolidates enquiry input channels, including web and email queries, and leverages AI and self-service technologies such as chatbots, to give around-the-clock service to UN partners and those who manage UN Volunteers. External visitors are serviced in three UNV languages – English, French and Spanish, including on the AI interface.

New overview released: UN Volunteer contributions to COVID-19 response The United Nations Volunteers programme has released a new overview of its contribution to the UN System’s COVID-19 response, outlining the specific support UN Volunteers are providing UN partners to overcome the health, economic and social impacts of COVID-19. 

The COVID-19 pandemic will have devastating effects on UN programme countries, reversing many positive gains in sustainable development. The negative social and economic impact particularly affects people most often left behind; such as women, children and those with disabilities.  In support of countries and UN partners in the COVID-19 response, the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is investing its own resources to immediately deploy 70 UN Volunteers to countries severely affected by the crisis.

Giving clarity and certainty to UN Volunteers and their host agencies, is vital. UNV has put measures and guidelines in place to ensure duty of care for its currently serving 6,000 UN Volunteers who are deployed with over 50 UN entity partners worldwide.