SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 13: Climate change, SDG 15: Life on land, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
In the MENA region, climate change is intensifying existing hardships—shrinking food and water supplies and deepening instability for communities already displaced by conflict. Enter Jahidul Islam: a Bangladeshi climate and disability inclusion expert who brings both technical insight and lived experience. He is a wheelchair user who has faced structural barriers firsthand.
15 August 2025
Arab States
Success stories
SDG 1: No poverty, SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
I recently travelled to Mbire with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Zimbabwe communications team. As a UN Volunteer, my job was to help tell the stories of women and families we met. We were documenting the impact of a One-stop Centre provided by UNDP in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Gender Commission. The initiative started in response to alarming findings from a national inquiry on child marriages and abuse of young girls, including those with disabilities.
14 August 2025
East and Southern Africa
Success stories
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
We had all answered the call to serve in the historic United Nations Assistance Mission in East Timor (UNAMET), a political mission, established by the UN Security Council on June 11, 1999. Our task: to help organize and conduct a UN-sponsored referendum in which the Timorese people would vote on whether to remain under Indonesian autonomy or pursue full independence.
13 August 2025
Asia and the Pacific
Success stories
SDG 2: Zero hunger, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
The war continues unabated in its eleventh month. In this backdrop, Elena Mansour, from the Netherlands, serves as a UN Volunteer in Security Analysis and Training with the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Bureau in Egypt. She reports on security and political developments regarding food security. This reporting is vital to forecast potential risks for famine.
19 August 2024
Arab States
Success stories
SDG 1: No poverty, SDG 2: Zero hunger, SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 4: Quality education, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 6: Clean water and sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities, SDG 12: Responsible consumption and production, SDG 13: Climate change, SDG 14: Life below water, SDG 15: Life on land, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
The call for “decolonizing aid” divides the humanitarian world into those who provide assistance on quasi-colonial terms and the aid recipients, on whom the terms of this aid are imposed, reinforcing dependency, and making the whole system self-serving. The proposed solution is to remove layers of intermediaries before aid reaches the intended recipients and/or change the composition of that layer from foreign to local groups.
19 August 2024
Global
Success stories
SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
Grace Kironcho is from Kenya and serves with UNHCR in Nigeria. She is 33 years old.
16 August 2024
West and Central Africa
Success stories
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
“It was stressful as I was far from my family, and we didn't know how intense the aftershocks were going to be,” recounts Cameroonian, Desiree Gertrude Etobe, an Associate Protection Officer on the challenges encountered on both personal and professional levels due to the earthquake. Professionally, rapid response was crucial.
14 August 2024
Arab States
Success stories
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
Tetiana Mykytenko serves with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Czechia. She wanted to do something positive even as things looked bleak in her home country, Ukraine.
She sought refugee in Czechia and that's when she joined UNHCR as a UN Volunteer Refugee Community-Based Protection Assistant.
13 August 2024
Europe and Central Asia
Success stories
SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
In Peru, UNV partnered with two UN entities that host the highest numbers of UN Volunteers, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to carry out a talent outreach mission on the northern border of the country.
04 September 2023
Latin America and the Caribbean
Success stories
SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
The Peruvian towns of Tumbes, Piura, and Lambayeque are facing a triple crisis: climate change, a dengue fever outbreak and forced migration. It is estimated that 840,000 people need humanitarian assistance after heavy rains and are at risk of a possible "El Niño" phenomenon.
31 August 2023
Latin America and the Caribbean
Success stories