"Youth Impact for the SDGs in Côte d'Ivoire" is a US $118,500 project partially funded by Microsoft and implemented in collaboration with AIESEC, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and UNV. The project was developed following a workshop of the UNV Regional Office for West and Central Africa (ROWCA) in Dakar, Senegal, in September 2016 on harnessing the potential of young people to achieve the SDGs through volunteering.

Simuka Africa Youth Association was established in 2006 in response to the growing number of challenges that were affecting young people in Zimbabwe. It was during the time when the country was in the midst of political and socioeconomic turmoil, characterised by high youth unemployment, a high HIV and AIDS prevalence rate of 20.1 per cent among those aged 15-49, a historic hyperinflation, declining health educational services among other social and economic ills.

In the pursuit of its mandate to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, UNICEF recognizes that youth over 18 years old have proven to be key advocates and change makers. UNICEF has historically engaged modest numbers of youth volunteers in their advocacy and programmatic work. The organization is now looking to strengthen this by engaging youth in a systematic and formalized programme to deliver results for children.

Ms Valerie Crab, Programme Specialist and Innovation Lead, has been working with two national UN Youth Volunteers and one national UN Volunteer in the twenties on innovation, such as the U-Report Indonesia, a polling system that uses social media to help deliver youth opinions to policymakers. “I think that UN Volunteers should be recruited to bring an added value to a programme that otherwise we wouldn’t have access to,” she says. On the value of having a UN Youth Volunteers in her team, she describes,

During 2017, nearly 250 UN Volunteers worldwide served in assignments that are clearly linked to medical professions. They bolstered the work of 23 UN partner entities, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA), UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNAIDS, as well as 13 UN peacekeeping missions. Through their assignments, they contribute significantly to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3, which targets achieving healthy lives and wellbeing for all.

Increasing access to basic social services

In East and Southern Africa, the achievement of SDG 3 is particularly crucial. According to WHO, Sub-Saharan Africa “confronts the world’s most dramatic public health crisis”.  Mortality among children under 5 years of age remains high, with a rate of 84 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. The incidence of HIV infection is still highest in sub-Saharan Africa, with 1.5 new infections per 1,000 uninfected people in 2015. In 2016, sub-Saharan Africa was home to 90 per cent of malaria cases and 91 per cent of malaria deaths.

The UNDP-UNV Talent Programme will offer young people with disabilities the opportunity to acquire practical work experience and exposure to the work of the UN Development System through assignments with country, regional or headquarters offices of UNDP and other UN entities. UNDP-UNV will identify relevant assignments and select applicants. Programme participants and host offices will benefit from dedicated support, guidance and professional development opportunities as part of the programme.

How do you see the partnership between UN Women and UN Volunteers and why is this important?

The people of South Sudan deserve to enjoy life, deserve to have food, water, electricity, education and a prosperous future for their children. This is the spirit of volunteerism for me – volunteering to make people’s lives better. --Ia Saakadze, UN Volunteer Air Operations Assistant