3: Mobilizing skills - United Nations Volunteers

vulnerable individuals’, such as the elderly andpeople with disabilities.Khin Pwint Oo (‘Ma Pwint’) is a national UNVvolunteer Community Social Services Specialistwho works directly with such communities. Inconsultation with beneficiaries, Governmentofficials and UN agencies, she and her teamconduct needs assessments, leading to smallprojects to help people change their lives. Forexample, Ma Pwint and her colleaguesdeveloped plans to help ethnic minoritiesproduce their own food and generate additionalincome from fisheries, animal husbandry andvegetable gardening.“On-the-job training on organic fertilizerproduction and use was successfully carried outin a displaced community in ThandaungTownship,” adds Saw Terry, also a national UNVvolunteer Community Social Services Specialist.“The UNV volunteers and UNHCR enabled peopleto make use of organic fertilizer on their own. Wealso conducted further discussions withvulnerable women in the Mon region aboutraising pigs, and held discussions with anotherwomen’s group about the benefits to farming ofdraft cattle or even mini-tractors.”In addition, public health specialists “lend theirhands” in support of community-based healthinitiatives, Ma Pwint says. “For instance, nationalUNV volunteers are engaged in the distributionand demonstration of modern child-deliverymedical equipment and offer guidance onhealth needs.”National UNV volunteer civil engineers are alsoinvaluable to UNHCR’s activities, notes Ma Pwint.“This was particularly important after CycloneNargis in 2008,” she says, “when UNV volunteersassisted affected communities in the delta andYangon areas.” The UNV volunteers providedmaterials and helped in building low-costshelters for vulnerable people.Meet UNV volunteers...responding to disastersUNV volunteers are often well-placed to provide immediate assistancein the aftermath of natural disasters. The fact that they work directlywith communities, and often live in their direct vicinity facilitates earlywarning and response.In Botswana, national UNV volunteer Kebonyemodisa Watotastepped in when the communities he worked with were hit by theworst flooding in 30 years. Watota (centre, photo: UNV, 2009) knew thecommunities through his HIV/AIDS awareness-raising activities underthe Community Capacity Enhancement Programme. His localknowledge and language skills thus proved invaluable in assisting theBotswana Defence Force and Red Cross volunteers as they assessedthe situation in the villages of Kauxwi and Xakao.The aid workers also needed Watota to help persuade distressedand confused local people to temporarily move from their ancestralhomes to higher ground. “As a UNV volunteer, I facilitated dialogueduring the meetings,” he says. “This was possible because I had alreadybeen working with the villagers, so I was not new to them and thisaccelerated dialogue. I stayed with them for three nights afterrelocation to assure them that the new place was safe.”In China, national UNV volunteers were quick to offer their helpafter the Sichuan earthquake happened. Liu Lei, the only UNVvolunteer serving nearby at the time of the disaster, was the first tovolunteer as a field interpreter for the International Federation of theRed Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Fellow UNV volunteer Gao Weiwas serving with the Beijing Youth League at the time, andimmediately volunteered to assist its disaster relief mission withequipment supply.Like Watota in Botswana, Lei’s local knowledge proved invaluable.He recalls the first days after the disaster. “My first task was to collectfurther information about the location, population and number ofcasualties, and I liaised between international aid agencies, localauthorities and affected communities.” Lei’s efforts ultimately helpedthe Red Cross work more closely with other NGOs and facilitated thearrival of targeted aid.MOBILIZING SKILLS | 35