As a 17-year-old, I travelled to the United States on an educational exchange programme and my main motivation was to play baseball and experience American culture.I met a lot of other people from Africa and Asia as well as Europe and I was taken aback and then impressed by their passion and motivation to support their villages and communities back home.

Meet Rafiatu Umarayi Alhassan and Samuel Peprah Bekoe. Both are UN Volunteer Field Coordinators and part of Young Africa Innovates (YAI) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana, a bold initiative helping young people across all 16 regions of the country turn their ideas into solutions. 

In Niger, Kadiatou Moumouni is more than a UN Volunteer; she’s part of what defines the new normal in the UN system—inclusion. At the Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO), she connects government, UN agencies, and civil society to champion gender equality, human rights, and disability inclusion. One of her standout contributions? A simple attendance sheet—redesigned to track the participation of persons with disabilities.

Andrii began his assignment by designing a strategic plan focused on the geospatial component of the project, researching each participating city’s geographic, historical, and socio-economic context. This helped him gain a deeper understanding of the forces shaping urban development.  "Once the groundwork was laid, I began sourcing data—vector, raster, and statistical—while organizing everything in a way that would support efficient geospatial analysis. This step was more than just data management; it was about building a foundation for meaningful insights," shares Andrii.

I come from Inhambane City, a small town in southern Mozambique. I am currently based in Nampula Province, where I have been serving as a UN Volunteer with UNFPA since February 2023. Child marriage impacts far too many girls, far too early in life. I help local partners by offering support and helping organize activities like mentoring, getting children back into school, and improving access to health services, especially those related to sexual and reproductive health.

Before volunteering with the UN, Pavlo Tishkov crunched numbers at the National Bank of Ukraine. But when war broke out, spreadsheets weren’t enough—he wanted to make a real difference.

Fully Funded UN Volunteer from Japan, Akinori Miyamoto, a Project Specialist, connects smallholder farmers to market techniques.

Afryandani, known as Afry, is a Project Clerk with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Climate Promise project in Indonesia.Even though I’m not on the front lines planting trees or delivering speeches, I know that every contribution I make, allows those impactful actions to be fulfilled efficiently.”

Khalid's efforts align with global best practices and support the Sustainable Development Goals—especially SDG 12 on responsible consumption and production, and SDG 15 on protecting life on land. In his volunteer assignment as an Environmental Officer, he has successfully included sustainability into the culture at UNAMA—treating it not just as a target, but as a way of thinking. 

In a country still healing from years of conflict, safety is fragile. Communities are rebuilding, and peacekeeping operations are a necessity. That’s where Prakriti comes in.