Onsite UN Volunteers:

• Diversity of experiences: In some cases, international UN Specialist or Expert Volunteers may prove a cost-effective option of complementing PMU teams comprised mainly of national staff. In one UNDP Country Office, the PMU noted that bringing on board an international staff as an international UN Volunteer contributed to enhanced managerial and oversight experience within a key function for the team. Additionally, PMUs can engage national or international UN Youth Volunteers, which can bring in a valuable skillset and perspective for health programmes.
• Local capacity: National UN Volunteers add value with their knowledge of local languages, cultural, social, and economic characteristics.  National UN Volunteers are particularly well-placed to nurture capacities at the community level, fostering local ownership and sustainability.
• Support with community integration: UN Community Volunteers can play a significant role in health service delivery, raising awareness, or debunking myths and misconceptions around critical health issues.

Online volunteers: Online volunteers remotely support completing UN entities’ tasks. As online volunteers’ typical assignments, they design and create communication materials, translate documents, and make reports. UNDP can complete the recruitment process on its own through Unified Volunteering Platform (UVP). Online volunteers collaborate with UNDP on a short-term task basis up to 20 hours per week for up to 12 weeks.

On-screen step-by-step guide: How to create a new online Description of Assignment

Practice Pointer

In addition to addressing human resource needs within PMUs, UNDP can support national counterparts to engage UN Volunteers. In Kiribati, UNDP’s engagement with UNV in support of the UNDP-managed Western Pacific regional Global Fund grant was prompted by government demand. Following the resignation of its TB programme coordinator, the Ministry of Health (MoH) faced a critical staffing gap in a country with one of the highest TB burdens in the world. UNDP shared its positive experience with the MoH from engaging a  UN Volunteer Medical Specialist in Tuvalu under the Western Pacific programme. The MoH subsequently requested UNDP’s support to recruit a UN Volunteer TB Specialist, as a means of ensuring sufficient medical expertise on TB in the ministry amidst staff turnover challenges.

UN Volunteer categories:

• UN Expert Volunteers: People with critical skills, including specialized in-demand knowledge, professional expertise and technological acumen, often cultivated over many years
• UN Specialist Volunteers:
• International UN Specialist Volunteers: Professionals with specialized knowledge and a wide range of cultures and professional backgrounds
• National UN Specialist Volunteers: Nationals of the host country (or refugees and stateless persons physically present in the country of the duty station) who are recruited nationally
• UN Youth Volunteers: Ideally suited to areas needing innovation, community outreach, youth engagement, social media or work with marginalized communities. UN University Volunteers are a special segment of UN Youth Volunteers and serve on assignments of 3-6 months.
• UN Community Volunteers: Bring local expertise to development and peace solutions, recruited locally with no experience required. They work where they live on projects that impact their own community.

For more details on UN Volunteer Categories, see the UNV Partner Toolkit.

Cost:

The Online Volunteering service is free of charge.

For more information, please check the Entitlement calculator on the Unified Volunteer Platform UVP website.

Practice Pointer

PMU experiences with UNV
Several PMUs have engaged UN Volunteers across a range of functions, with notable benefits:

“I think UNV is an excellent modality. It adds cultural diversity to the team and gives a chance to the local staff to be exposed to experiences from other countries. We also receive a lot of appreciation from host countries, as UN Volunteers are usually highly educated and experienced people bringing a lot of added value.”

“The UNV modality works well in contexts when specific expertise is required that is missing in the host country or host agency, including in ministries of health. Low income and remote countries will find UNV help particularly beneficial.”

– Programme Manager, Western Pacific Grant

“I knew I could get a competent international UN Volunteer for this assignment. In contexts such as Afghanistan where the cost of operation is high and in the current context of declining funding, engaging international UN Volunteers results in cost efficiency, especially for the PMU budget. This is well received by both the Global Fund and Country Coordinating Mechanism.”

“The assignment required key technical skills and expertise. I already had three national staff in the section so having an international within the team brought on board added experience, including a managerial and oversight function.”

– Programme Manager, Afghanistan

To be put in touch with another PMU that has recruited a UN Volunteer for a specific assignment, please contact the UNDP Global Fund Partnership and Health Systems Team (GFPHST).