Kawtar Abendag is a UN Youth Volunteer serving with UN Women in Morocco. She is a Gender Responsive Budgeting Programme Assistant for Communications and Knowledge Management. Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) ensures an equitable distribution of public resources for the benefit of all. It does not mean that there should be a separate budget for each gender rather it means that gender equality is mainstreamed throughout the public budget cycle. From planning the budget, to spending the resources, and to the final audits.

Beatriz was looking to resume her career path. She had been out of a job for some years due to family reasons. It was early 2021 when she found a breakthrough in the form of a UN Volunteer assignment in data analysis and GIS.  I was researching information on the involvement of the United Nations in development and environmental protection when I came across this volunteering opportunity," says Beatriz. She explains why science is so important for sustainable development.

Maissa Abdellaoui is an international UN Volunteer with a French Algerian background who serves with UNICEF in Senegal. Under the Gender and Exclusion programme, Maissa provides technical support to women teacher networks, menstruation hygiene kits or best referred to as 'dignity kits' for schools and girls, and organization for support groups for girls. 

Alexandra's UN Volunteer assignment is fully funded by the Government of Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). 

I served at the UNDP Istanbul International Center for Private Sector Development in Türkiye as a Research and Partnership Analyst with a focus to ensure the engagement of private-sector partnerships for developing digital skills and the green economy. 

UNDP’s primary mandate is to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities through sustainable development. Charlotte’s assignment is focused on these two mandates, which she examines through a gender lens. She works with gender mainstreaming and gender-responsive climate finance under the Sustainable Development Finance workstream.  

Their presence contributes towards the gender mainstreaming strategy of the United Nations system, which integrates the experiences of women in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes, with the aim of ensuring gender equality.

Within two weeks of arriving, Ami started bleeding – enough to warrant a visit to a health centre. But workers at the centre were on strike, so she was sent to another facility, which didn’t have an ultrasound machine to diagnose her condition. 

It’s different when you have suffered from discrimination yourself and when you are part of a minority. These life experiences help you develop more empathy towards those who need assistance. --Alfonso Zabaleta, UN Volunteer Humanitarian Affairs Access Officer with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Venezuela

As someone who aspires to gain experience in a new culture, I was looking for a field experience on women empowerment in Africa. This led me to the UN system, and I couldn't have got a better opportunity than this UN Volunteer assignment. In my day-to-day work with UNDP, I am trying to bring more inclusive development work to the table.  In Cameroon, there are some great challenges connected to gender, where the roles and power relations are very traditional. Women usually depend on men and are less represented in the political arena and the formal workforce.