Jean Bosco Bavuge embarked on his volunteering journey with MINURSO as a Water and Sanitation technician in 2021. Aiming to achieve efficiency and minimize risks, he facilitates the optimized utilization of natural resources. Jean's expertise lies in designing effective water and wastewater treatment facilities, while ensuring compliance with international safety and environmental standards. He actively shares his extensive knowledge to strengthen his colleagues’ capacity, including military peacekeepers, in the realm of water and waste management.

In delivering much-needed aid and assistance to the Afghan population, IOM national and international personnel face security risks and elevated stress. One of these is UN Volunteer Staff Counselor Anne Mungai (Kenya). Anne joined IOM in Afghanistan in November 2022, hoping to share her expertise she gained in her native country, Kenya. She supports IOM personnel in the delicate political environment that followed restrictions imposed by the de facto authorities on Afghan women and girls, who have been barred from schools, universities and work.

What inspired you to join UNMISS as a UN Volunteer? 

Of all the field missions that Camilo Gómez has participated in as a UN Volunteer, one truly left its mark on him. It was in a remote place in Colombia called Mandé, located deep in the jungle in the rural zone of the Urrao municipality, between the Antioquia and Chocó departments.

The DRC has faced myriad challenges, ranging from significant humanitarian assistance needs and chronic underdevelopment to political instability and protracted armed conflict in the Eastern part of the country. Humanitarian, development and peace actors are all present to support the government and the population with its recovery and development pathway.

Currently, 15 Indonesians are serving as international UN Volunteers, contributing to advance peace and development worldwide. I am one of them. Since October 2022, I have been part of the Medical Emergency Response Team (MERT) in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which falls under the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

"Coming from an underprivileged background myself, I have always been passionate about helping communities like the one I grew up in when it comes to promoting local development and respect for human rights. Being a UN Volunteer has given me an opportunity to do so, and in a multicultural context to boot," the experienced advocate and community mobilizer says. 

"It takes a village to raise a child. Same goes for peacekeeping."  Silvia Kavrochorianou (Moldova), UN Volunteer Civil Affairs Officer with UNMISS

The UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), established in September 2014, now has over 305 UN Volunteers. On the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, we share a video message from Mr Emmanuel K. Agawu, Chief of Operations and Resource Management at MINUSCA.

Carlos started his first assignment as a UN Volunteer in 1992 with elections in Cambodia. He is one of 28 UN Volunteers who served under the UNDP-implemented Electoral Assistance Project of the United Nations in Bolivia, a project that sought to re-establish trust in the electoral body, as part of the UN’s peacebuilding efforts in the country.