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How to become a volunteer
UNV is inspired by the conviction that volunteerism is a powerful means of engaging people in tackling development challenges worldwide. Everyone can contribute their time, skills and knowledge through volunteer action, and their combined efforts can be a significant force for achieving peace and development.
There are three ways to volunteer with UNV:
a) International UN Volunteer
UNV recruits a great diversity of talents and offers a variety of volunteer opportunities. Every year, about 7,500 qualified and experienced women and men of around 160 nationalities serve as UN Volunteers in some 130 countries. They are professionals who play key roles contributing to peace and making an impact on development results.
Please be aware that many UN Volunteers work in remote, isolated duty stations where basic comforts are limited. There may be no electricity or running water, there may be no recreation facilities to speak of and work may continue seven days a week.
Though UNV 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. The minimum age for UN volunteers is 25. There is no upper age limit.
If you are ready to register to become an international volunteer, please go to the registration form. Please do not register more than once. If you are already registered in the UNV database and wish to update your information, we invite you to visit “MyProfile” .
For further queries, please also visit the FAQ page
b) National UN Volunteer
National UN Volunteers are volunteers mobilized by UNV on the request of a programme country to support peace and development programmes in that country.
They are citizens of the country. But non-nationals can also serve as national UN Volunteers if they reside legally in the host country, are recognized as stateless or refugees, and if such service is in compliance with national law of the host country.
National UN Volunteers are assigned to a Host Agency which is a UN organization or entity that requested the service of the national UN Volunteer.
Compared with other UN personnel, national UN Volunteers add value with their knowledge of local languages, cultural, social and economic conditions, and their capacity to work at the local level. National UN Volunteers are particularly well-placed to nurture capacities at the community level, foster ownership and sustainability, and contribute to achieving the the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The minimum age of a national UN Volunteer has been set at 22 years of age, and UNV will accept well-qualified and suitable older candidates to serve as national UN Volunteers up to an age covered by the life insurance carrier.
In Pakistan, such opportunities will be posted on the following website: http://jobs.un.org.pk/
c) Online volunteering
The UNV Online Volunteering service is a platform that puts volunteers into contact with organizations around the world. It connects development organizations and volunteers over the Internet and supports their effective online collaboration.
The UNV Online Volunteering service gives development organizations access to a broader pool of knowledge and resources to enhance their capacities, while it offers individuals worldwide additional opportunities to volunteer for development and contribute to the achievement of the MDGs.
If you are interested in volunteering online, your first stop should be UNV's Online Volunteering service. Please note that online volunteers are not UN Volunteers.