UN Volunteers—through the UNWTO Volunteers Programme—have been promoting the MDGs through tourism. Since 2007, the UNWTO's aim has been to provide young professionals with practical training in tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation and development. Here, individual volunteers from countries such as Guatemala, Mexico, Ghana and Colombia tell their own stories of working together with local communities. Despite the challenges and frustrations, all of them in the end have conveyed positive and constructive feelings in terms of their own unique experiences.

UNV highlights the work of two online volunteers and their important contributions to communities far away from their own: One woman in Malaysia assists with the design and production of a brochure for an agricultural association (ADICTA) in one of the poorest regions of Guatemala. Another online volunteer, located in Oxford, England, has been offering free post-secondary education courses and tutoring to Ugandan, Afghani and Nepalese refugees and IDPs (internally displaced persons) through Respect University.