The UN Volunteers “supports sustainable human development globally through the promotion of volunteerism, including the mobilization of volunteers,” and over 30,000 people have participated in UN Volunteer peace, relief and development initiatives throughout the world since 1971.

In general, UN Volunteers are highly qualified and experienced individuals; they must be 25 or older and are matched with appropriate positions based on local needs and volunteer skills. Placements last from three to twelve months, and the site specifies that the UN recruits professionals, humanitarian aid specialists, senior business leaders, expats returning to their own country and IT specialists, among others.

Similarly, if you are involved in policy advising, natural heritage protection, human resources development, HIV/AIDS workplace programmes, micro-credit, medicine, crisis prevention, or are a specialist in environmental coastal zones or volunteerism, you can apply online to be included in their resource bank of candidates.

They note that future opportunities cannot all be featured on the site as the UN has links with so many different organizations, so if you are qualified and interested, they encourage you to apply.

To get a better idea of what some of the positions are like, take as an example one vacancy from a few weeks ago (which has been filled), “Programme Specialist in Bonn,Germany: The Programme Specialist acts as primary focal point for liaising with external partners, UNV staff and UNDP country offices.” The first two qualifications listed are “Advanced university degree in business, public administration, social sciences or other closely related field in the area of development studies; Five years or more of professional experience in project development/management related activities.”

In short, you need to be highly qualified to be a United Nations Volunteer; if you’re not so qualified yet but still interested, consider it as a guide to potential fields of study and check out the internships section. Also have a look at the links provided to other opportunities.