UN Volunteering Program , Botswana

“As I grew up my best friend’s dad worked with the UN and I decided that I would work there when I grew up. Now that I have finished my degree in community development I realize employment in the UN is not easy but for a start I would like to be a UN volunteer but I have no idea of what it entails. Kindly help me out.” writes David Juba in an email.

Working for the UN is always a big dream for many people but later on they settle for internships or volunteerism. United Nations Volunteers is an equal opportunity programme which welcomes applications from qualified professionals. A person’s decision to become a UN volunteer is based on a commitment to contribute to peace, development and human rights.

“A UN Volunteer creates beneficial change and has a positive impact on people’s lives, acting as a facilitator and catalyst. Being a UN volunteer encourages you to be creative and entrepreneurial in finding ways to develop capacity and to promote peace and development,” a section of their website reads

Being a volunteer requires you to show strong commitment values and principles of volunteerism, work in a multi-cultural environment, adjust to difficult living conditions, have strong interpersonal and organizational skills and lastly have prior volunteering and/or working experience in a developing country is an asset.

So, what exactly do you need to nab a volunteering position with the organization? As for the academic qualifications, a person interested in being a UN volunteer should be at least 25 years of age possessing a university degree or higher technical diploma with two years of relevant working experience. They should also have a good working knowledge in at least one of the three UN Volunteer working languages i.e. English, French and Spanish.

The key benefits of being a UN Volunteer are the personal satisfaction and enhancement of your professional experience. In support of your assignment, one receives Settling-in-Grant which is paid at the beginning of the assignment, monthly volunteer living allowance to cover basic living expenses, travel on appointment and at the end of assignment as applicable, and life, health and permanent disability insurance.

One also enjoys Annual leave and Resettlement allowance which is paid upon satisfactory completion of the assignment.

Though UN Volunteer assignments can be very rewarding, applicants thus need to be prepared to be deployed to difficult places and they need to be able to adjust to fast-changing living and working circumstances. They should also be keen to note that work is usually in remote, isolated duty stations where basic commodities are limited.

UN also has Online Volunteering (OV) service that connects development organizations and volunteers over the Internet and supports their effective online collaboration giving access to a broader pool of knowledge and resources. The OV service provides technical expertise, supports project and resources management and facilitates communication and networking.

To register as a UN Volunteer visit http://www.unv.org/en/how-to-volunteer/register-to-be-a-un-volunteer.html

If you are interested in volunteering online, see www.onlinevolunteering.org