As a retiree, I didn’t expect to apply for another assignment, but the UN process of application and interview was easy to manage in my situation then, confined at home during COVID-19 lockdown. I had the time to commit to a volunteer programme, which engaged the skills I had used throughout my working life. In addition, the job brought me in touch with the continent where I had made my home for so long. -- Laurel Boland, online volunteer.

I have always been interested in women's rights, gender equality and volunteerism. My first volunteer experience goes back to my undergraduate days when I joined the university's official volunteer programme, Ugnayan ng Pahinungod, which nurtures volunteers working with the Philippines' local communities. I also worked as an intern for the Huairou Commission in New York, which provided me with ample exposure to women's rights issues and an understanding of key global issues.

Siphra Jane Tampubolon is a Health Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist and serves as a National UN Volunteer with UNDP Indonesia. She is with the Health Governance Initiative (HEART) since 1 August 2021 up until July 2022. 

Long thought of as a place of natural beauty and biodiversity, Madagascar is experiencing environmental destruction like never before.

Throughout my studies, I became interested in the interplay between social policy and economic growth. Hence, I decided to focus on the provision of quality education and how education systems impact social and economic development, especially in the context of Europe and Central Asia.  Serving as a UN Volunteer with the World Bank in line with my values: it enables me to have a real impact on improving people's access to social services, infrastructure and good jobs, as well as empowering young people. 

In the region, more than 4.8 million Venezuelans have left the country towards other territories like Peru, where 57 percent live in overcrowded spaces (World Bank, 2020).

The underrepresentation of women in the digital technology industry is not a new topic. This often occurs due to an over-competitive and male-dominant system, lack of female role models and unclear career prospects for those interested. One of the talented women data scientists who overcame all those challenges is Ozge Ozkaya, a national UN Volunteer in Turkey. Ozge serves as a Junior Data Science Officer at the SDG AI Lab in pursuit of digital transformation to achieve Sustainable Development Goals. 

The COVID-19 Response Programme is jointly implemented by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and UN Women. The programme is supported by the governments of Finland, Italy and Sweden with the consent to remobilize USD 3.1 million to respond to the pandemic in Kenya.

According to the State of the Climate in Latin America and the Caribbean 2020 Report, more than 312,000 people lost their lives and 277 million were affected by climate-related events between 1998 and 2020; the severe droughts in the southern Amazon were the worst in 50 years, while in Central America, a record of 30 storms a year was recorded with 8 million people affected.

In Mozambique, one in three women suffered from violence in their lives in the pre-COVID-19 era. Different forms of abuse towards women and girls in many provinces of Mozambique have previously been recorded, especially in Chimoio, Mossourize, Gondola and Tambara districts of Manica province, where domestic violence and abuse cases against women are prevalent, with some resulting in death or loss of body parts.