In 2014, UN Volunteers were at the forefront of development efforts and crisis response around the world. In the wake of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, UNDP and other UN partners engaged UN Volunteers to support emergency relief efforts and resilience projects in hard-hit communities. Thanks to UNV’s extensive database of technical expertise, the UN was able to rapidly deploy skilled UN Volunteers in the areas where they were most needed.

In recent decades, most Latin American countries have made increasing commitments to gender equality. However, the commitments alone have not been sufficient to fully address gender gaps and inequality, as they require appropriate budget resources to ensure effective implementation. In response to this need, UN Women promoted Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) as a tool for linking women's and gender-equality public policies with budget allocations, and for strengthening the capacity of governments to implement the relevant policies.

When I was given the opportunity to come to Sudan as a UN Volunteer with the United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), many folks discouraged me, because of the hardship conditions.   I refused to listen to the naysayers and didn't hesitate to accept the offer. My whole life has been full of challenges and hardships, and so Darfur would be no different. I told them that I was willing and able!   

As part of the next State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, UNV commissioned a study based on original multi-country quantitative data to understand patterns of volunteer participation during the global COVID-19 pandemic, volunteer motivations and experiences, and what these might mean for people’s voluntary participation in the remainder of the Decade of Action.

While there are an estimated 370 million indigenous people around the world, most remain largely excluded from mainstream decision-making processes. As a result, despite making up 5 per cent of the world’s population, 15 per cent of indigenous people suffer from extreme poverty.