Coronavirus (COVID-19) does not discriminate by race, gender, geography, income, age or sex. Regardless of who you are, the type of job you have, or the lifestyle you lead, COVID-19 has shaken societies around the world and upended lives and livelihoods. It has forced governments to respond rapidly and develop response and recovery plans.

 In times of emergency, the demand for information is exceedingly high. Providing people with the right and relevant information they need to stay safe is part of the mission of Mamadou. He coordinates the U-Report and Rapid pro platforms of UNICEF. These are mobile empowerment programmes with more than 10,000 users that connect young people, community members and frontline workers to information that will influence decisions.

UN Volunteers are supporting a WHO project for Health Security in Turkey, which aims to improve services and the capacity of laboratories, and another for the Social Inclusion of Persons with Mental Disabilities. These projects have changed dramatically due to the outbreak.

The Cities Project, or project for South-South and Triangular Cooperation among Maritime-Continental Silk Road Cities for Sustainable Development, was initiated by UNOSSC in 2017. It promotes South-South and triangular cooperation at the city level, taking advantage of the strategic opportunities offered by the Belt and Road Initiative in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  

This cohort will consist of five national UN Volunteer Specialists from Burkina Faso, Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal and two international UN Volunteer Experts working from Dakar, Senegal, and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  State of the World Population: Harmful Practices (Interactive Website)

The COVID-19 Response Programme was developed by the UN Joint Devolution Programme after development partners Finland, Italy and Sweden consented to remobilizing USD 3.1 million to respond to the pandemic in Kenya.

These are just examples of why gender equality matters in the context of COVID-19, emphasizing the need to ensure the world’s response to the pandemic is gender-sensitive.

With a presence in 190 countries, UNICEF continues its mandate on protecting children’s rights by being one of the leading UN agencies responding to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, UNICEF Venezuela – along with UN sister agencies and public and private sector – elaborated a plan that identified the most at-risk communities. Some 189 health facilities, clinics and community health centres in 13 states have been reached among the country so far.

Bolivia: Voluntariado en Acción (V.A. - Volunteers in Action) The platform Voluntariado en Acción, promoted by UNV in Bolivia, emerged in 2015 in response to copious inquiries from people regarding how they could get involved with the UN system. It mobilizes people of different ages, skills and education to achieve common goals.