Prishtina, Kosovo: Building on our achievements with the foresight exercise for unemployment in Kosovo, our innovations team at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which I am part of, is now moving on to the Big Data realm. Every day, people around the world are generating massive amounts of data that, when aggregated and depersonalized to protect the privacy of each one of us, can be used to get insights into the state of society and enable us to respond more effectively and efficiently to its needs.

Yambio, South Sudan: "I started doing voluntary work when I was in primary school so the spirit of volunteerism has always been with me" says Robert Kiiza, a UN Volunteer from Uganda, based in Yambio South Sudan. In 2012, Robert became an UN Volunteer with the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a Fire Safety Assistant in the Aviation Section. When he got deployed in Juba, there were only two fire safety personnel across the mission and he was asked to coordinate fire related activities in areas where UNMISS launched air operations.

N'Djamena, Chad: We are Alladoum Assidjim and Laura Rutishauser, a national UN volunteer aged 33 and an international UN volunteer from Switzerland aged 29, working together to provide Chadian youth with local volunteering opportunities. In order to do so, we are supporting the set up of Chad’s National Volunteering Programme (CNVP), with our partners the UNV programme, UNDP, the French Embassy and France Volontaires, at the request of the Chadian Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports.

Katmandu, Nepal: My name is Manash Gadtaula and I am a national UN Volunteer in Nepal. I serve as a civil engineer in a team of eight for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) building demolitions project, as a support for the Village Development Committee. Demolition of houses can sound counter-intuitive but it is actually necessary in order to prevent further loss of lives during the aftershocks.

Katmandu, Nepal: My name is Hotrika Joshi and I am a national UN Volunteer Civil Engineer in Nepal. I am part of a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) demolition project, which has handled the damage assessment of 250 households, benefitting approximately 1,500 people. In the Irkhu Village Development Committee area, a thousand more buildings need to be assessed and potentially torn down within the very first weeks, before the monsoon arrives.

Bentiu, South Sudan: When Katia Cristina Da Silva, from Portugal, joined the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme in 2007, her main goal was to use her skills to improve the lives of others and share her expertise to enhance the capacity of others.  Since then, Katia has been a UN Volunteer in East Timor, Nepal, Sudan, and South Sudan. In April 2013, Katia joined the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) as a UNV Civil Affairs Officer having been a UN Volunteer with the United Nations Mission in Sudan  from 2009 to 2011.

Kigali, Rwanda: 19 815 is the number of peacekeepers deployed to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). Sent by 52 troop-contributing countries, contingents are deployed for a period that varies from six to eight months before being replaced with a new contingent. The deployment and repatriation of contingents take place in Entebbe, Bujumbura or Kigali, where MONUSCO has MovCon liaison offices.

Bangui, Central African Republic:  I am Italian and define myself as a “soul traveller”. Prior to moving to the Central African Republic (CAR), I have been working, living and studying overseas for the last 10 years. Over the time, I developed expertise in the areas of capacity building, migration, and human trafficking across different countries mainly from South/Southeast Asia, and Africa.

Man, Côte d'Ivoire: Originally from Niger, My name is Samira Keita and I am a United Nations Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer in Man, Ivory Coast. Having earned a Master’s Degree in NGO Management and Development from the London School of Economics in the United Kingdom, I was first introduced to the work of the United Nations while interning at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Geneva, becoming a consultant in the aftermath.

Port-au-Prince, Haiti: I’m Adoum Goulgué, I’m UN volunteer at the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH). I work as a journalist-editor in the United Nations police (UNPOL) Section. But before that, I worked as responsible for public information at the publication unit, section of the Communication Office of Public Information, where I arrived on 01st July 2013. I have 10 years of experience in journalism, including four in the weekly newspaper in Chad, and four others as communication officer with humanitarian NGOs in eastern Chad.