Mutlaq and Abdullah are Saudi UN Volunteers on parallel journeys, turning national expertise into global experience through the fully funded partnership between UNV and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Economy and Planning.

This is also Armenia’s first time hosting the UN biodiversity conference. The decision to hold COP17 in Yerevan was taken at COP16 in Cali, Colombia, where more than 800 UN Volunteers supported the conference.

“The cooperation between UNV and China began in 1981. The new agreement will continue to write a new chapter in the cooperation, playing the role of a bridge and link, and creating opportunities for more talents to participate in international volunteer services,” said Ai Yinfang, Deputy Director-General of CICETE.The Agreement builds on longstanding collaboration between UNV and partners in China, providing a stronger foundation to deepen the partnership and expand cooperation into new areas.

During an official two-day visit to the Republic of Korea on 12 and 13 October 2026, UNV Executive Coordinator Toily Kurbanov is meeting government representatives and international organizations. The visit takes place during the International Volunteer Year and will focus on how volunteer action can further strengthen solidarity and cooperation while responding to global peace and development challenges.

Troubled beginningsMy own entry into the UN was as a young tour guide at the UN Headquarters in New York. This opportunity opened a window into a vast and complex institution. Explaining the UN to visitors from around the world helped me see it from the inside – its energy, complexity and extraordinary potential. That experience set me on the path to UNDP.

In 1999, a cyclone struck Odisha in eastern India.Mukeshkumar Prajapati was thousands of kilometers away in Jamnagar, Gujarat, completing his medical training in pediatrics. When a call went out for medical specialists willing to help, he volunteered. His dean hesitated to send him alone. Mukesh never made the trip. But something had already revealed itself, something that would repeatedly shape the next quarter-century of his life—the impulse to step forward.

My mother was a teacher before she became a political trailblazer: Senegal’s first woman mayor and vice-president of the National Assembly. She led at a time when leadership by women was rare. She did not ask for permission to care. She simply did. And she showed me by example, that being a woman is not a limitation, but a source of strength.From her, I learned courage. Not the loud kind, but the steady kind. The courage to be who you are. To stand for others. To believe that leadership is not about status, but about responsibility.

Driven by inner conviction

Then, some of us thought that such an emergency would call for blood and decided to rush to the nearest blood donation station, where the line was already around the block. So many people had volunteered, as soon as the news spread, that the nurses could not cope and had to send the majority away, accepting only 0- blood donors, since 0- was in short supply and could be used for all negative blood types. 

The report was first unveiled globally on 5 December 2025 at the United Nations headquarters in New York during the opening event of the International Volunteer Year (IVY) 2026. It brings together the latest research and thinking on how volunteerism can be measured more effectively and why better evidence matters for sustainable development.