Kigali, Rwanda: Every child has the right to play! (Art.31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.) It seems so obvious; yet there are more than seven hundred million children who have never known what play means. That is about a quarter of all the world's children!

Nairobi, Kenya:  It has been a long, tiring and dusty journey across north eastern Kenya on a mission to witness first-hand the effects of the drought that has left millions on the brink of starvation. With me on this trip is UNICEF Sweden Goodwill Ambassador Liza Marklund and Swedish photographer Martin von Krogh. Together we have travelled from Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee camp, to Liboi near the Kenya-Somalia border and their journey ends in Wajir, a drought stricken district in northern Kenya. But for me this journey is far from over.

Kampala, Uganda:  'Unite for children' is what UNICEF stands for and what drives UN Volunteers to support UNICEF’s work.

Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo: My story I am from Burkina Faso, a West African country located on the southern edge of Africa’s Sahara desert.  Minimal rainfall makes living conditions very hard for people. In 1976, when I started primary school, less than 20 per cent of all children had access to education. Millions of children  do not attend school due to poverty. I could have suffered the same fate like these millions of children being ignored in this remote part of the world, unable to write, nor read.

Salloum, Egypt: When thinking of a volunteer, what usually comes to mind is a young person working in the field of an emergency zone. The link between the words ‘volunteer’ and ‘desk job’ is--to say the least--not very common. Well, I am one of those volunteers. I have been a national UN Volunteer, at a desk with office hours, in UNICEF Egypt’s Communication for Development (C4D) Section for a little over two years now.

Dili, Timor-Leste:  My name is Muhammad Afrianto Kurniawan, and my friends call me Afrianto. I am from Indonesia and this is my first assignment as a UN Volunteer. I have been working for UNICEF Timor-Leste as a UN Volunteer Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) Engineer since the end of January, 2010.

Guatemala City, Guatemala:  Guatemala is a young country. According to data provided by the National Statistical Institute, one fourth of the Guatemalan population is younger than 18 years old and one half is between 10 to 30 years of age. Most Guatemalan adolescents live in rural areas, and belonging to one of the ethnic indigenous groups makes them even more vulnerable given the discriminatory practices still existing in the country.

Ha Noi, Viet Nam: I am currently working as a Capacity Building and Monitoring and Evaluation Officer for UNICEF in Ha Noi. I work for a programme called the ‘Provincial Child Friendly Programme’ which aims to strengthen the capacities of Viet Nam’s provinces to tackle children’s issues. During the past years, the country has seen a huge wave of decentralization: the provinces now have more competencies, but often lack the capacity to consider children when implementing their plans and programmes.

Kampala, Uganda: I started volunteering at UNICEF Kampala in September 2010, after working for twelve years for a charity organisation in Uganda which works with vulnerable groups (women, children and people with disabilities) to overcome poverty and malnutrition in sustainable ways. As a new volunteer, I had great expectations and was full of ambition. I looked forward to meeting and working with new people at UNICEF, gaining new skills and using my experience to contribute to making a positive difference in the lives of women and children in Uganda.

Gitega, Burundi: It was during my experience as a volunteer in a Mexican orphanage that I was motivated to work with UNICEF later. And here I am, a few years later, holding a university degree, being even more inspired as a UN Volunteer who supports UNICEF in Burundi in Eastern Africa - and proud of it!