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
Andrii Nahornyi turns complex data into powerful maps to help cities thrive
24 October 2025
Global
Success stories
SDG 1: No poverty, SDG 2: Zero hunger, SDG 3: Good health and well-being, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
We had more than 200 volunteers spread across the country—many right where the fighting began. We had plans to scale up to 1,000 volunteers to support health services. In a matter of days, those plans collapsed. Suddenly, it wasn’t about growth. It was about survival.Care that goes both ways
13 October 2025
Arab States
Success stories
SDG 1: No poverty, SDG 4: Quality education, SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth, SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 11: Sustainable cities and communities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
Dayoung served as a UN Volunteer Education Associate in Timor-Leste from August 2023 to August 2024. She was driven by her dedication to UNESCO’s mission and the strength she admired in the Timorese people. Dayoung reflects on how preserving the past can breathe new life into a place once defined by trauma.
16 September 2025
Asia and the Pacific
Success stories
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 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
In South Sudan, I serve in Central Equatoria State, in the counties of Yei, Morobo, Lainya and Kajo-keji. These are communities that have lived through years of conflict. People here wake up each day facing threats that should never be normal: killings, abductions, sexual violence, cattle raids, looting of homes, and arbitrary arrests. The danger is constant. Yet people still hope. They want safety. They want dignity. They want peace.
12 September 2025
East and Southern Africa
Success stories
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
“You’ll be hired when a project is born, and released when it ends." Words of my professor from the University of Bradford are etched in my mind from a couple of decades ago. A thought that has stayed with me ever since. Over the years, I moved between roles at United Nations entities, international organizations, and Islamic Relief—always ready for new beginnings. Between 2002 and 2012, I worked in areas related to reducing poverty, empowering youth, and advancing governance-related programmes. By the end of that decade, I thought I had seen it all.
27 May 2025
Arab States
Success stories
SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
I joined the UN in 1992 as a UN Volunteer in Cambodia, just after the Cold War ended. A UN Transitional Authority was being set up in Cambodia, the largest UN endeavour since the UN operation in the Congo in the 60’s. Amidst 20,000 personnel, military and civilians, 465 UN Volunteers—including myself—were deployed as District Electoral Supervisors. Despite the Khmer Rouge boycotting the elections and the ongoing civil war, we organized elections in a Khmer Rouge-controlled area.
23 May 2025
Global
Success stories
SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
My volunteering journey wasn’t a traditional one. I started as a journalist, chasing stories on the streets, driven by curiosity and the power of storytelling. But I wanted more than just reporting; I wanted to be part of the change. That’s when I found United Nations Volunteers. My first role was with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Nigeria, where I worked as a Communications Officer highlighting peace and justice under Sustainable Development Goal 16.
03 March 2025
East and Southern Africa
Success stories
SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
There was no girl to recite the alphabet
And there was no one to write
No one to read
Those sounds, the girl’s sounds
Had died under the brickbat of idiotism
And Buddha collapsed out of shame.
My poetry echoes the challenges in my homeland—Afghanistan.
Despite these challenges, particularly for women and girls, I've found a path of purpose as a UN Volunteer.
09 January 2025
Asia and the Pacific
Success stories
SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions
The construction of this courthouse is part of the United Nations Joint Support Programme for Justice Reform 2020-2024—under which, this project was launched on April 7, 2022.
The courthouse is designed to give the four million residents of Tanganyika Province—60 percent of whom are women—better access to justice.
09 December 2024
West and Central Africa
Success stories
SDG 5: Gender equality, SDG 10: Reduced inequalities, SDG 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships for the goals
Angeline Kidiga is a 39-year-old woman from Kenya. She is a UN Volunteer Electoral Officer and joined MINUSCA in 2022 to support electoral operations. Angeline has overseen the distribution of electoral materials to some of the most remote areas in the country—Ouham Fafa and Nana Gribizi, which are affected by a lack of infrastructure and security.
02 December 2024
West and Central Africa
Success stories