متطوع الأمم المتحدة مع برنامج الأمم المتحدة الإنمائي، أحمد المدلل، موجود على الأرض في غزة. وهو مهندس يراقب توزيع الوقود للتأكد من استمرار تشغيل آليات إزالة الأنقاض وفتح الطرق أمام سيارات الإسعاف والمساعدات. بينما تقوم زميلته، ميساء العجرمي، وهي مهندسة معمارية، بجمع بيانات مفصلة من أربعة مشاريع لإزالة الأنقاض، وتوثق أحجام الأنقاض والآليات واستهلاك الوقود وأعداد القوى العاملة، وتقوم بعد ذلك بتحميلها على منصة معلومات المشروع.

UN Volunteer with UNDP, Ahmed Al-Mdalal is on the ground in Gaza. He is an engineer and monitors the distribution of fuel making sure debris removal machines keep operating and the blocked roads for ambulances and aid remain open. While another counterpart, Maysaa Al-Ajrami, an architect, gathers detailed data from four debris removal projects, documenting rubble volumes, machinery, fuel consumption, and workforce numbers, which she then uploads to the project’s dashboards.

Dayoung served as a UN Volunteer Education Associate in Timor-Leste from August 2023 to August 2024. She was driven by her dedication to UNESCO’s mission and the strength she admired in the Timorese people. Dayoung reflects on how preserving the past can breathe new life into a place once defined by trauma. 

In South Sudan, I serve in Central Equatoria State, in the counties of Yei, Morobo, Lainya and Kajo-keji. These are communities that have lived through years of conflict. People here wake up each day facing threats that should never be normal: killings, abductions, sexual violence, cattle raids, looting of homes, and arbitrary arrests. The danger is constant. Yet people still hope. They want safety. They want dignity. They want peace.

My name is Zahra Vaziri. I am from Iran. I serve as a UN Volunteer Associate Programme Officer with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Malawi. My role is to help ensure that humanitarian projects are not only implemented, but that they bring dignity, opportunity, and hope to both refugees and the communities that host them. I also make sure that the projects we design and fund are not only implemented but also carry meaning for the people who live here. 

Among them was Hotrika Joshi, a UN Volunteer with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who was based in Roshi Rural Municipality in Kavrepalanchok District, where ten lives were lost and hundreds of homes and farmlands were destroyed. 

I recently travelled to Mbire with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zimbabwe communications team. As a UN Volunteer, my job was to help tell the stories of women and families we met. We were documenting the impact of a One-stop Centre provided by UNDP in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Gender Commission. The initiative started in response to alarming findings from a national inquiry on child marriages and abuse of young girls, including those with disabilities. 

One hot afternoon in Harare, in the course of my work, I sat down with Debbie Chinochema, a young community member and beneficiary of UNICEF programmes in Zimbabwe. She looked me in the eye, smiled shyly, and shared her story with me. Debbie lives with HIV. But more than that, she’s a fighter. A volunteer. A voice.