FAO turns 80—and it’s more than just a milestone. This anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on a long-standing partnership built on shared values and global impact. 

Meet Rafiatu Umarayi Alhassan and Samuel Peprah Bekoe. Both are UN Volunteer Field Coordinators and part of Young Africa Innovates (YAI) with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana, a bold initiative helping young people across all 16 regions of the country turn their ideas into solutions. 

Atsushi is from Chiba city in Japan and started his UN Volunteer assignment with UNDP on 7 December 2024. He is based in Djibouti, where he will support agricultural businesses and food security till almost the end of 2025. The project is funded through the Japanese Supplementary Budget and titled, 'Support to UN response to water and food insecurity caused by climate change and drought in Sub-Saharan Africa through the deployment of Japanese Specialists as UN Volunteers.'

At 19, Deborah was forced to join an armed militia to fight ethnic groups in her native village in North Kivu Province in the DRC. Six years of witnessing devastation and the violent consequences of civil war, she decided to surrender weapons and opt for a peaceful life.

Makueni County, Kenya: Catherine Ngave, a national UN Volunteer in Kenya: I started volunteering at a young age in our community. We would volunteer to clean the market places and also fetch water for the elderly women in the village. I never knew it would lead to national volunteerism.