According to CEPAL (2015), 75 per cent of the afro-descendant population in Latin America and the Caribbean participated in national electoral processes. However, their representation in power and decision-making is not proportional.

As part of UNV's ambitious Digital Transformation programme, the Unified Volunteering Platform (UVP) offers a remarkable feature, namely AI-guided candidate matching.

With a professional background in Marketing and Media, and a thesis on Health Communications, Minh Pham, a national UN Volunteer Junior Communications Officer with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Viet Nam. Just as the fourth wave of COVID-19 pandemic hit the country, the population was in need of a lot of information about many issues. Minh was sent to the most impoverished areas of the country to document the vaccination efforts of frontline medical workers.  The people, despite living in harsh conditions, were very approachable. 

According to the Nepal Population Distribution in 2021, more than 60 per cent of Nepal's population is between the age of 15-64 years. If utilized well, this important demographic can become a leading opportunity for the country's growth towards sustainable development. 

In Lebanon and Gaza, high unemployment, soaring costs of living and limited social assistance at the national level have forced millions into poverty. Lebanese people, in particular, suffered financial and humanitarian setbacks following the explosion at the Port of Beirut in 2020.  With the Lebanese pound incurring a loss of more than 90 per cent of its value to the economic challenges that continue to limit any growth — the conflict in Ukraine adds more difficulties — the biggest of them all, a decrease in food imports.

Refugee UN Volunteers are integral and invaluable members of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) team in Slovakia. They mirror to UNHCR colleagues the day-to-day life, challenges and resilience of Ukrainian refugees. Tetiana Korshun and Olena Bilinska, UN Volunteer Protection Assistants with UNHCR in Slovakia,​​​ are based in Kosice and Bratislava, respectively. They support UNHCR in communicating with refugee communities.

Prabesh's main task revolves around civil engineering and other technical support to disaster risk reduction and community development. He is responsible for the distribution of agricultural assets like water pumps, tractors and threshers in support of community-owned and led management systems.

 The war in Ukraine triggered a drastic increase in humanitarian needs, as services were disrupted, and civilians fled the fighting. The United Nations, non-governmental and refugee-led organizations, charitable funds and national volunteer centres have been working around the clock. However, the longer the war continues, the more extensive the aid, protection and health needs will become.

The 21st century has featured unprecedented challenges and technological development. Volunteering provides great opportunities towards the advancement of the SDGs agenda and, hence, doing a critical analysis of its future perspectives is very important.

Marie-Noel Verwiyi (Cameroon, 38 years old) and Wessi Vaissoulaye (Chad, 35 years old) are both UN Volunteers serving at UNESCO and in charge of training the young peace weavers. Through workshops and trainings, they engage youth in peace and security efforts and economic empowerment. This is instrumental in preventing the recruitment of these young people by armed and terrorist groups.