The 16 days of activism campaign is a global initiative to raise awareness and combat all forms of gender based violence. The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme joined the 2014 campaign in Bangladesh and decided to focus on an issue often raised during discussions with Bangladeshi citizens: gender and public transportation.

Today, UNDP, UNFPA, UN Women and UNV came together, through the regional joint programme Partners for Prevention, to launch the report ‘Why do some men use violence and how can we prevent it? Quantitative findings from the UN Multi-country Study on Men and Violence.’ The study of over 10,000 men in Asia and the Pacific found that overall nearly half of those men interviewed reported using physical and/or sexual violence against a female partner, ranging from 26 percent to 80 percent across the sites studied.

Managua, Nicaragua: Situated in the heart of Central America, Nicaragua has a very rich biodiversity. As a developing economy, it is highly dependent on its natural resources. However, Nicaragua is one of the countries that suffers the most from the consequences of climate change. For example, farmlands are vulnerable due to extreme weather conditions which cause land degradation and severe erosion.

To mark International Volunteer Day, the UNV Field Unit in Bangladesh has published Volunteering for the MDGs in Bangladesh. The colorful booklet provides an overview of UNV’s activities in Bangladesh and relates the country’s progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goals through stories about volunteering.  The booklet features a volunteer story for each of the MDGs with all but one directly involving a UN Volunteer. The booklet also outlines recent and current efforts in Bangladesh to address the post-2015 development agenda.