Since the establishment of the United Nations-African Union Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) in 2007, 696 UN Volunteers have served with the mission.  These have included specialists in human rights, civil affairs, protection and electoral support, alongside technical and administrative experts as well. This year, UNAMID is closing down and is being replaced with a new mission, the United Nations Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan (UNITAMS)

The UN Volunteers' fresh youth attitude, talent to navigate new technologies, and boldness for new ideas and innovation are highly appreciated. They all bring a genuine wish for change and a strong commitment to contributing to the achievement of SDG3: Good Health and Wellbeing. --Dr Jean-Marie Kipela, WHO representative in Guinea-Bissau

UN Volunteers in Timor-Leste were at the heart of the humanitarian mission, supporting displaced communities. Heavy rains in early April had caused flash floods that affected the livelihoods of over 25,700 households in 13 municipalities across the country.  

UN Volunteers are serving with IOM as Staff Welfare Counsellors to support and ensure staff mental health and wellbeing. These mental health professionals reach out to staff affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, including those impacted by organizational restructuring and temporary suspension of projects/programmes, and others engaged in the response. They are a crucial part of the wider Staff Welfare service.

Hanna Yahorava, Coordination Specialist on Volunteerism and COVID-19 Response and Recovery, and Katsiaryna Andronava, Volunteer Engagement Specialist, serve with UNDP Belarus. The UN Volunteers have been working on COVID-19 response and recovery measures and socio-economic support, with the integration of volunteerism solutions. Their assignments are sponsored by UNV, from its Special Voluntary Fund.*

Oleksandra Malukalo joined the UN Resident Coordinator's Office in Ukraine as a national UN Volunteer last year. She is among national UN Volunteers deployed in 79 countries and with 18 UN entities through an investment of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme. UNV dedicated US $2 million for this purpose from its Special Voluntary Fund* (SVF), a flexible multi-donor fund that allows UNV to provide timely and strategic investments.

As the Minister of Health stated at the time, "the pandemic exposed existing inequalities and capacity to respond in many countries in Africa." That is why UNDP, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Health, designed a comprehensive capacity development project that included a wide spectrum of young professionals to help strengthen key areas in the health sector of São Tomé and Príncipe, identified as critical in mitigating the impacts of the pandemic.

In crises and emergency situations, volunteering provides governments and civil society organizations with greater flexibility and response capacity. This is particularly true in humanitarian crises, further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic

UN Community Volunteers Blessing Iyala and Aisha Abdel-Latif are working to empower internally-displaced women from Borno State in Nigeria. They facilitate informative and sensitization sessions in local languages for the women and girls and manage one-on-one cases for survivors of gender-based violence survivors. So far, over 200 women and girls have benefitted from their support in learning various livelihood skills.

Eda Senel, Kivilcim Kardelen Yok, and Pelin Kocer were always interested in gender issues. Now, as UN Volunteers, they apply their knowledge gained throughout their academic studies and previous internships, to contribute to the improvement of coordination and operations.