In moments like this, my role is not to lecture or impose. It is to listen, to ask questions, to remind the group that within their own customs and traditions lie paths to peace. I have learned that people want solutions to come from themselves. My job is to create the space where that feels possible. By the end of that day, nothing dramatic had shifted. No handshake sealed a deal. But the room felt lighter. Neighbours who had stopped speaking to each other had looked one another in the eye. And for me, that was enough to keep going.

The United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) collaborate on a programme where young professionals under the age of 35 serve as evaluators. Initiated by UNEG Young and Emerging Evaluators Working Group to provide learning and career growth for youth keen to join the UN, while also ensuring their voices are included in UN evaluation processes.

In June 2025, Dr. Mahamadou Nouri Kassimoune Tago and Nana Nazifa Hamissou Garba joined a cohort of 40 UN Volunteer Specialists supporting WHO's vaccination drive under the emergency response framework. Together, they work in districts where reaching children is both most urgent and most challenging—bringing not just vaccines, but trust and hope. 

UN Volunteers in BeijingAt China’s International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges (CICETE), Jialin is a young Chinese UN Volunteer Project Analyst with UNOSSC. She organizes trainings, reviews grant proposals, and drafts policy briefs that drive sustainable development in agriculture, clean energy, and poverty reduction. 

Sihyun's volunteer journey began after earning a degree in Science Education in the Republic of Korea. She volunteered through a KOICA project at a youth center in Takeo, Cambodia. Witnessing the health gaps faced by young people inspired her to pursue a Master of Public Health in the United Kingdom. Immediately after graduating, she joined the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) MENA Regional Office in Amman as a UN Volunteer Health Officer.

Peace is when people can speak without fearIn Beni, Kakessiwa, originally from Togo, serves as a UN Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer at the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) Joint Operations Center. His role is to track security developments and coordinate responses between military, police, and civilian actors.

“The levels of death and destruction in Gaza are without parallel in recent times. Day after day, our efforts are being blocked, delayed, and denied. This is unacceptable.” UN Secretary-General António Guterres says, while highlighting the clear obligations for the occupying power, Israel. He calls Gaza a man-made disaster, a moral indictment, and a failure of humanity itself. “People are starving.