A world full of fairness, agility and justice Jean-Rufin Doguela Gbogola is a national UN Volunteer Monitoring and Reporting Assistant with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in the Central African Republic.  My assignment is focused on monitoring and reporting a joint youth project, which aims to promote the socioeconomic resilience of young people in the country, by creating emergency jobs and entrepreneurship training.

The 2022 State of the World’s Volunteerism Report, Building Equal and Inclusive Societies, presents new evidence on the relationship between volunteers and the state. It shows that the ways in which volunteers and state authorities interact, collaborate and partner are vital for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Fresh out of university, I was intrigued by a poster advertising for UN Volunteer assignments. I applied and was soon deployed to the National Parks Directorate in Chad from 1971-1974. My UN Volunteer experience benefited me enormously, both personally and professionally. First and foremost, I met my Chadian wife, with whom I have four wonderful children, all born in Chad.

I joined the UNDP Kazakhstan team in 2020. For me, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities has always been a day closer to sadness, arousing memories of being excluded from society due to my disability. Therefore, when my interview for this UN Volunteer assignment was scheduled close to the day, I felt this was ironic.  However, I was successful, and since the start of the assignment, my perspective on how the world sees people with disabilities has changed.

Milanka Nikolic is a national UN Volunteer Human Rights Associate with OHCHR in Serbia. Her assignment is fully funded by the Government of Sweden.  Her involvement in volunteering and interest to learn more about human rights and UN core values led her to join the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme.   My work area has always been activism, primarily for youth from disadvantaged backgrounds, alongside promoting media literacy and social media education.

According to UN Women, one in three women and girls experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime, mostly by an intimate partner. The situation has deteriorated since the outbreak of COVID-19. Calls to helplines reporting violence have increased five-fold in some countries, and in Lao PDR, the Women’s Union Counselling and Protection Centre have reported a significant increase in the number of calls they have received. COVID-19 has not only increased the likelihood of violence, but has strained essential services, making it even more difficult for women to get support.

What motivated me to serve as a UN Volunteer was my desire to learn and to contribute to the important work of the United Nations. It is inspiring that the programme provides such opportunities to young and emerging professionals like me.

In Benin, UNFPA has established a network of Youth Champions committed to fighting gender-based violence. They serve with a project that targets gender-based violence prevention, protection and empowerment of girls and women in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, and is funded by Canada.

My primary role is to spearhead disability inclusion at the Nigeria Country Office. I manage the inclusion of women and girls with disabilities and the youth in UN Women's activities in Nigeria. I have pioneered a Disability Inclusion toolkit tailored to the ongoing programmes in the country. This toolkit simplifies the steps for programme managers and partners to provide access to women and girls with diverse disabilities to contribute, participate and benefit from development programmes.

When I first arrived in Rwanda, the country went into lockdown as COVID-19 had reached its peak in the country. Hence, I was first deployed to support Rwanda’s National COVID-19 Command Post Centre in Kigali, which coordinates the entire country’s COVID-19 response. I was part of the Technical Advisory Group, where representatives from different partner organizations met and discussed technical responses, including decisions on the number of COVID-19 tests and vaccination roll-out.