- UN Volunteers make a difference
- Statistical overview
- People thrive through volunteering
- UNV works with partners on targeted initiatives
- Volunteers from all walks of life
Supplementary reports for download
Full Funding programme Reporting for 2024
Special Voluntary Fund of UNV Reporting for 2024
Annual Report
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) offers people opportunities to volunteer across the three pillars of the United Nations (UN): development, peace and security, and human rights.
All over the map
UNV has entered the final year of its 2022–2025 Strategic Framework with positive momentum. Despite the global development and humanitarian challenges, UNV remained steadfast and delivered.
These challenges demanded a proactive response to the needs of UN partners at a country level and, simultaneously, extra attention to the duty of care for UN Volunteers. UNV – in collaboration with its UN partners, Member States and civil society – is continually evolving to craft effective twenty-first century volunteer solutions.
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UN Volunteers in 2024, a 14 per cent increase from 2023
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UN Volunteers came from the Global South
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UN Volunteers make a difference
UN Volunteers supported 59 UN partners in 169 countries and territories. The number of nationalities represented increased to 181 from the 173 represented in 2021, prior to the start of the current Strategic Framework. The increase has brought UNV a step closer in its collaborations with communities in countries across the entire United Nations membership and in eliminating the notion of “un-represented nationalities” among UN Volunteers. UNV has expanded the community reach and operational activities of the UN system.
Hundreds more participated as community UN Volunteers and refugee UN Volunteers. This demonstrated the combined commitment of UN partners and UNV to strengthen both the capacity of local volunteer talent and South-South cooperation in peace and development worldwide.
Statistical overview
UNV put in place a record-breaking number of 14,631 UN Volunteers, marking a 14 per cent increase from 2023 and a 77 per cent increase from pre-pandemic 2019. That growth demonstrated the strength of UNV’s partnerships across the UN system worldwide and the essential role of UN Volunteers in diverse field-related and technical roles.
They served in diverse field-related and technical roles including:
Community development
Medical service
Human rights
Information management
Humanitarian assistance
and more
Water and sanitation
The data from UNV’s Volunteer Reporting Application indicated that in 2024, UN Volunteers contributed to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of these, 27 per cent of UN Volunteers contributed to SDG 16 – peace, justice and strong institutions – reflecting a high number of UN Volunteers in fragile development contexts. This was followed by SDG 5, gender equality (23 per cent); SDG 3, good health and well-being (19 per cent); SDG 17, partnerships for the goals (17 per cent); and SDG 10, reduced inequalities (14 per cent). This is evidence of the breadth of UN Volunteers’ actions in fulfilling the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
UN Volunteers, in their opinion, mostly contributed to:
27%
23%
19%
17%
14%
The largest numbers of UN Volunteers in 2024 came from sub-Saharan Africa (4,428), Latin America and the Caribbean (3,347), Asia and the Pacific (2,074), the Arab States region (2,030), Western European and other States (1,646), and Europe and Central Asia (1,106).
People thrive through volunteering
The proportion of women UN Volunteers increased to 59 per cent, a 2 per cent growth from 2023. However, UNV continued to prioritize achieving gender parity in the UN peacekeeping and special political missions. The ratio of women in the five missions with the largest participation of UN Volunteers increased from 43 per cent before the current Strategic Framework began in 2021 to over 47 per cent in 2024. Those five missions were the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS); the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA); the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia (UNVMC); and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).
In 2024, UNV continued to strive for organizational agility and operational efficiencies. UNV improved gender representation among its staff, leveraged digital solutions and strengthened its volunteer talent acquisition outreach.
The overall female-to-male staff distribution in UNV was 61 per cent to 39 per cent. At the leadership level, the Deputy Executive Coordinator is a woman; four of the six Regional Managers and 63 per cent of Country Coordinators also are women. Globally, UNV personnel represented 70 countries, with 76 per cent of them coming from the Global South, as compared to 73 per cent in 2023.
UNV works with partners on targeted initiatives
UNICEF
The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) made opportunities to serve with UNV available to refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons and migrants from 20 to 32 years of age through the Youth on the Move Programme.
UNAMA
The UNAMA launched an effort to place 44 Afghan women serving as UN Volunteers in critical roles, including political and judicial affairs officers and nurses, allowing women more opportunities within public spheres.
UNRCOs
The United Nations Resident Coordinator Offices (UNRCOs) in West and Central Africa launched a drive to recruit persons with disabilities to serve as UN Volunteers and advance their professional capacities.
Volunteers from all walks of life
The average age of UN Volunteers was 34, while the overall age range was from 18 to 79 years. In 2024 UNV reinforced its efforts to promote intergenerational and lifelong volunteering, supporting volunteers at all life stages. In 2024 there were 167 UN Volunteers 60 years of age and above. At the same time, 2,166 UN Volunteers from 18 to 26 years of age represent the commitment of UNV to youth.
Online volunteering
UN partners, Member States and civil society organizations posted 22,962 requests for Online Volunteers – a significant increase of nearly 65 per cent compared to the 14,025 queries in 2023. This points to UNV’s recognized ability to connect with the wide array of talent available virtually.
UN Volunteers around the globe
- UNDP
- Entities and missions of the UN
Secretariat - UNICEF
- UNHCR
- WHO
- UNFPA
- IOM
- UN Women
- WFP
- Collaboration with other UN partners
UNDP
UNDP saw the highest number of UN Volunteers, among all UN partners, at 4,161. UN Volunteers were assigned in 130 countries and constituted 13 per cent of UNDP’s overall workforce.
Across seven states in Brazil, UN Volunteers assisted small farmers in the UNDP Floresta+ Amazon initiative on reducing emissions from deforestation. In India, UN Volunteers supported biodiversity conservation in a variety of areas and ecosystems including the Himalayas, central arid and semi-arid regions, and coastal landscapes. In Chad and Niger, UN Volunteers mobilized for UNDP country offices supported community development to stabilize Lake Chad basin. In Ukraine they supported access to energy supplies and sources, environment protection and reconstruction efforts.
Entities and missions of the UN Secretariat
There were 3,546 UN Volunteers integrated as civilian personnel into the work of the UN Secretariat and missions.
Many of these were international UN Volunteers (1,588) who served in UN peacekeeping operations and were a mainstay in efforts to provide mission support. Their impact included upholding human rights, promoting access to justice, reducing violence, integrating ex-combatants into society and providing public information.
The peacekeeping missions hosting the largest numbers of UN Volunteers were UNMISS, MINUSCA and MONUSCO. In addition, 404 UN Volunteers served with UN special political missions, mainly UNVMC and UNAMA.
UNV support to the Secretariat was not limited to UN missions. Valuable contributions were made worldwide by 417 UN Volunteers to the work of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), 255 UN Volunteers with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and 170 UN Volunteers with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), among others.
In Lao People’s Democratic Republic, UN Volunteers supported UNODC in community-level drug prevention and anti-trafficking. In Colombia, UN Volunteers assisted OCHA in humanitarian data analysis in the country’s most challenging areas. In the Republic of Moldova, UN Volunteers supported OHCHR’s protection monitoring project by collecting primary data on the rights of Ukrainian refugees. And in Niger, UN Volunteers promoted peace and social cohesion through dedicated assignments with OHCHR and OCHA.
UNICEF
In 2024, the number of UN Volunteers serving with UNICEF grew to 2,299 – a 17 per cent increase from the previous year. UN Volunteers with UNICEF were in 134 countries.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, young UN Volunteers, including persons with disabilities, took on advocacy roles as Youth Champions nationwide. In Djibouti, UN Volunteers expanded skills for out-of-school girls and supported non-discriminatory education policies. In Ecuador and Mexico, UN Volunteers served under the Social Champions initiative to support face-to-face and telemarketing fundraising efforts. In Türkiye, UN Volunteers assisted with child protection as earthquake response efforts continued in 2024, while in Tunisia, UN Volunteers supported disability-sensitive social protection for children.
UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hosted 973 UN Volunteers, a 3 per cent decrease from the previous year, mostly as a result of a fall in funding for specific refugee operations. These UN Volunteers delivered on refugee protection and humanitarian action in 74 countries, many of which have been unsettled by war and conflict.
In Jordan, 32 refugees became UN Volunteers to help maintain energy systems and to provide social care to the elderly and persons with disabilities for over 42,000 Syrian refugees in the Al Azraq camp. In Mauritania, UN Volunteers assisted in distributing water, shelter and non-food items in the Mbera refugee camp. In Uganda, UN Volunteers connected host communities to refugee-led organizations in the West Nile Region, home to over 19 refugee settlements and some 220,000 refugees. In Romania and Slovakia, UN Volunteers, including 12 refugees, assessed the needs of Ukrainian refugees, monitored assistance programmes and supported the provision of shelters and basic social services.
WHO
The number of UN Volunteers for WHO dropped to 510, a 7 per cent annual decrease, mostly due to the completion of some WHO volunteer special initiatives implemented in previous years. UN Volunteers were part of WHO operations in 82 countries.
The flagship programme Africa Women Health Champions, with the WHO Regional Office for Africa, continued in 2024, providing essential health services to 40 African countries. In addition, 209 UN Volunteers, a majority of them women, served across WHO country offices in Africa in 29 professional areas of public health. In Sudan, through field visits to North Darfur, UN Volunteers provided essential health services for internally displaced persons. In Pakistan, UN Volunteers assisted with vaccine-preventable diseases and flood response in 13 districts. In Mauritania, they supported polio response and epidemic detection in 15 regions.
UNFPA
UNFPA relied on the talents of 887 UN Volunteers, a 69 per cent increase compared to the previous year. UN Volunteers boosted reproductive health programming and monitoring in 98 countries.
In Nigeria, UN Volunteers supported programmes for women and adolescents and youth. In Colombia, UN Volunteers worked alongside the government’s humanitarian response and guided communities on health and gender-based violence for 1.8 million Venezuelan refugees. In Sri Lanka, UN Volunteers supported the 16 Days of Activism. And in Tunisia they raised awareness of reproductive rights via social media.
IOM
With the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 948 UN Volunteers were the backbone of migrant support in 53 countries – an almost twofold increase in the agency’s volunteer workforce.
In Colombia, UN Volunteers across five cities screened applications and offered guidance on migration services. In Mali, UN Volunteers trained migrants and supported their access to employment opportunities. In Pakistan, UN Volunteers, including three refugees, served as interpreters. In Thailand, UN Volunteers worked as enumerators and tracked the mobility and living conditions of displaced populations in five provinces.
UN Women
In 2024 there were 517 UN Volunteers who served with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) in 72 countries, an increase of 32 per cent compared to the previous year.
In Iraq, UN Volunteers promoted women’s empowerment in education, health care and civic rights, ensuring women had the opportunities to thrive in various sectors. In Ecuador, UN Volunteers promoted opportunities for women in national sports. In Uzbekistan, UN Volunteers supported UN Women’s advocacy and outreach, while in China they provided vocational training to women farmers in green energy and entrepreneurship.
WFP
WFP hosted 303 UN Volunteers in 62 countries, a 20 per cent decrease from the previous year, mostly due to a freeze in the recruitment of UN Volunteers in the context of WFP’s global restructuring.
In the State of Palestine, UN Volunteers assisted WFP with logistics and humanitarian data management. In Egypt, UN Volunteers helped to assess the risk of famine during the war in Gaza. In Mozambique, UN Volunteers monitored food security, especially in conflict-affected Cabo Delgado. In Nigeria, UN Volunteers supported nutrition and recovery efforts after northern floods. In the five countries of the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Senegal) a group of UN Volunteers with a WFP-supported network of six universities known as REUNIR promoted research and solutions for food security.
Collaboration with other UN partners
In 2024 UNV contributed to UN development system-wide and to inter-agency priorities:
UNV supported activities put in place under the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF), especially in the area of community development. To this end, UN Volunteers in Bosnia and Herzegovina served in a joint UNDP and IOM project strengthening peaceful and resilient communities. In Madagascar, UN Volunteers with UNDP, OHCHR, UNICEF and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) amplified civic participation and quality education for all.
UNV supported joint programmes and inter-agency initiatives. In Armenia, UN Volunteers with UNDP and UNHCR supported local administrations and communities hosting refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. In Bangladesh, UN Volunteers from minority groups assisted a UNDP and the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) joint initiative with the local government to contribute to climate adaptation of vulnerable communities in 11 districts.
UNV partnered with UNRCO, IOM, the Ministry of Environment and the Mayor’s office in Cali, Colombia, to rally 410 UN Volunteers to support the Sixteenth meeting of the Conference of Parties (COP 16) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. In Saudi Arabia, 654 UN Volunteers kept schedules on track and helped with translation and communications during COP 16 of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD); their efforts were performed in collaboration with UNDP, the UNCCD Secretariat and national counterparts.
UN Volunteers boosted a regional initiative of UNFPA and UN Women in 11 countries under the 16 Days of Activism campaign.
UN partners hosting UN Volunteers 2024
Taking care of UN Volunteers
Motivated, well-equipped volunteers contributed to UN efforts. The proportion of UN Volunteers who reported that their assignments led to personal and professional development held steady at 92 per cent, compared with the annual target of 94 per cent. As well, 89 per cent of UN Volunteers said they were satisfied with their volunteer experience, a 2 per cent increase compared to 2023.
reported personal and professional development enhanced
satisfied with volunteering experience
In 2024, UNV expanded learning opportunities for UN Volunteers, strengthening their personal and professional growth through diverse capacity-building initiatives. This meant 11,269 UN Volunteers took part in 167 learning initiatives, including workshops with 15 UN host partners across 30 countries. Nearly 6,000 UN Volunteers engaged in competency-based self-paced learning, including language platforms and proficiency exams. UNV also launched an inter-agency coaching initiative to support volunteer growth and well-being.
The 2024 Report of the Secretary-General on the Composition of the Secretariat acknowledged a diversified UN Volunteer base in terms of gender, nationality and geographic regions. The report also noted that from 2020 to 2023, 8.7 per cent of UN Volunteers in the Secretariat transitioned to staff roles, demonstrating UNV’s potential to bring multifaceted talent into the workforce.
UNV and opportunities for all
In 2024, UNV deployed 273 UN Volunteers with disabilities across 26 UN partners – a 41 per cent increase from 2023. The top five partners that welcomed the largest number of UN Volunteers with disabilities were UNDP, UNICEF, UNRCOs, UNFPA and UN Women.
The five countries with the largest number of persons with disabilities serving across UN partners were the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Mali, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia.
Promoting volunteerism for the future
23
Reviews acknowledged
the positive impact of
volunteers on the SDGs
Inspired by action, the future takes shape
In promoting volunteerism, UNV focuses on the 2030 Agenda as well as additional guidance from Member States through General Assembly resolutions adopted in 2024:
The resolution regarding the Quadrennial comprehensive policy review of operational activities for development of the UN system, which recognizes volunteerism as a key tool for the implementation of SDGs.
The resolution on strengthening volunteerism for the achievement of the SDGs, leaving no one behind, which encourages Member States to integrate volunteerism into national and sectoral strategies, plans and policies.
In 2024, UNV supported Member States to integrate volunteer engagement in the 2030 Agenda through national development plans and Voluntary National Reviews. During the year, 36 Member States presented Voluntary National Reviews, of which 23 acknowledged the positive impact of volunteers on the SDGs.
At the same time, UNV provided technical support to
16 UN teams on the ground
Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo UNSCR1244, Liberia, Mali, Panama, Paraguay, Sierra Leone, Uzbekistan
References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of the United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).
for the integration of volunteerism in common country assessments and UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks, as well as to
11 new country programme documents
Bahrain, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Colombia, Ethiopia, Iraq, Namibia, Panama, Paraguay, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Ukraine
of UNDP. In addition,
five country programme documents
Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Madagascar, Papua New Guinea
of UNFPA integrated volunteers to strengthen the capacity to deliver results, and
one UNICEF country programme
Bhutan
document acknowledged the contribution of volunteers to child protection, which falls under SDG 16.
Brokering knowledge on volunteerism
UNV's Knowledge Portal Volunteerism on remained a key repository for volunteering data, consolidating information on laws, policies and volunteer modalities. The portal featured webinars and virtual discussions, and its accessibility features were enhanced for persons with disabilities.
Key topics on the Knowledge Portal
The portal facilitates global knowledge-sharing on volunteerism by publishing studies on how volunteers support peace and development. Among the new knowledge products supported by UNV is a report on volunteering in Central Asia highlighting the best practices of volunteering for sustainable development from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Additionally, a joint analysis by the International Labour Organization and UNV on the gender aspects of volunteering and unpaid care work in lower-income countries was completed.
Efficiency gains and financial reporting
Improving institutional effectiveness
UNV continued to enhance efficiency gains and improve partnership experiences of UN Volunteers and host UN partners. The practical avenues used for achieving these objectives in 2024 included:
Incrementally empowering regional offices and field units with clear accountability frameworks.
Decentralizing and de-concentrating volunteer recruitment and deployment functions to bring them closer to the country level.
Enhancing digital solutions in the volunteer cycle processes while preparing for application of artificial intelligence and leveraging UNDP’s corporate platforms such as the Global Shared Services Centre.
UNV has exceeded the target on the deployment speed of national UN Volunteers – 20 days on average in 2024 as compared to the 23-day target in the Strategic Framework. For international UN Volunteers, the deployment speed amounted to 59 days for all assignments except those fully funded by the donors (where the deployment speed remained high at 131 days, partly due to dependency on donor timelines). Building on these results, in 2025 UNV will review the structure and the level of overhead costs for volunteer deployment and administration and update its administrative fees and cost recovery elements.
UNV financial reporting for 2024
- Expenditure overview 2023-2024
- UNV financial volume overview 2015-2024
- UNDP core contributions to UNV 2015–2024
- Special Voluntary Fund and interest (SVF) and other resources, contributions and interest 2022-2024 (in million USD)
UNV financial volume overview 2015–2024 (million USD)
Full Funding programme
In 2024, contributions to the UNV Full Funding (FF) programme amounted to $20.5 million, an increase of 7 per cent from 2023. Overall, UNV deployed 846 UN Volunteers who were fully funded by governments and academic institutions. Fully funded UN Volunteers were supported by the Member States of Australia, China, Czechia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Norway, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as the Agency for Volunteer Service, Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region (SAR) China.
Other partners also provided support including the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology in India and King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi in Thailand.
Full Funding programmeSpecial Voluntary Fund
UNV continues to depend on its flexible and unearmarked resource, the Special Voluntary Fund (SVF), to contribute to the implementation of the Strategic Framework results. In 2024, the SVF received contributions totalling $4.9 million. The SVF is used strategically to quickly send UN Volunteers into the field to assist in a variety of ways:
Special Voluntary Fund
The next State of the World’s Volunteerism Report
Preparations have started for the next edition of the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report. UNV has partnered with two academic institutions - the University of Pretoria (South Africa) and the University of Northumbria (United Kingdom). These partners will join UNV in researching and analysing measurements of volunteer work, reflecting the value of volunteerism to individuals, communities and societies.
Partnering with UNDP country offices, UNV provided data and evidence on volunteerism integration into the national development plans in three countries:
Iraq, on lifelong education (under SDG 4) and good health (under SDG 3)
Liberia, on helping youth gain job skills (under SDG 8) and enhancing education (under SDG 4)
Uganda on emergency response (under SDG 13) and job skills (under SDG 8)
In the first three years of the current Strategic Framework, UNV has placed more UN Volunteers than during the entire four-year cycle of the previous framework (23,400 in 2022–2024 compared to 18,512 in 2018–2021).
However, there is no room for complacency. In 2025, the final year of the Strategic Framework, UNV will focus on maintaining this positive momentum while addressing key areas for improvement, including accelerating the deployment of international UN Volunteers, diversifying the donor base of the SVF, and increasing the number of new knowledge products on volunteerism for the SDGs.
According to UNV’s assessment, system-wide trends in volunteer mobilization observed from 2022 to 2024 – such as the sustained demand for national UN Volunteers, diversification of their roles at the country and community levels, and higher turnover in emergency response – are expected to continue in 2025.
However, new funding constraints within the UN development system at the start of the year are likely to increase uncertainty and volatility in the operational environment. In response, UNV will need to demonstrate greater resilience, stronger field-level engagement, and enhanced agility to adapt effectively.
At the same time, UNV will focus on two critical forward-looking priorities. First, it will develop the next Strategic Framework (2026–2029) through a consultative process with Member States and UN partners. This process will integrate insights from the achievements of the current Strategic Framework as well as the findings and recommendations from an independent evaluation.
Second, UNV will prepare for the International Year of Volunteers for Sustainable Development in 2026. In collaboration with Member States and UN partners, UNV will lead global activities to highlight the crucial role of volunteerism in advancing sustainable development.
