The UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Anita Nirody together with representatives of the World Health Organization, United Nations Population Fund and United Nations Development Programme traveled to Karakalpakstan to see how the UN family is tapping into the essence of volunteerism to support its initiatives in Karakalpakstan. Projects that are currently inspiring and mobilizing people to volunteer for area based development are the UNDP Developing Capacities of National Human Rights Institutions (DCNHRI), UNDP-UNV Empowering Communities through Local Volunteerism Karakalpakstan and the UNDP Area Based Development (ABD) projects.

The Human Rights project supports initiatives that empower young and aspiring law students to volunteer their time and provide free legal assistance to those who cannot afford a lawyer on their own. The legal clinic, which is under the Karakalpak State University, was inaugurated by Ms. Nirody and now will serve as a meeting place “where with the help of professional lawyers, students learning law volunteer their time to help people, because better informed citizens make better choices about their lives” – explained Bekhzod Aliev, DCNHRI Project Manager. After the ribbon-cutting, Ms Nirody presented the clinic with a collection of modern legal periodicals that will help students improve their knowledge of law and quality of legal aid provided.

The UNDP-UNV TB project has just completed mobilization of its 1000th volunteer out of an envisioned goal of 3000. Once mobilized, the community volunteers will serve in 642 villages in 5 districts in Karakalpakstan to help the communities report cases of early TB symptoms, assist in the treatment of TB patients, work in partnership with local health centres, complete a survey on incident rates of TB, and disseminate educational material to communities about TB.

Ms. Nirody and representatives from UN Agencies witnessed a ceremony commemorating the launch of a new phase of the project in which computer equipment that will improve the data management of TB case loads and bicycles that will assist community volunteers as well as health workers reach distant patients were handed over to health centres.

Furthermore, representatives of the Karakalpak government and local communities together with the UN family took the opportunity to share their successes and experiences during the World Tuberculosis Day, celebrated throughout the world on 24 March.

The UN Volunteers Programme, World Health Organization and the UN Development Programme with the financial support of Norway and Japan are implementing the TB project, which uses TB prevention and care as entry points to address community development issues in a holistic and integrated way. Before her flight back to Tashkent Ms. Nirody had time to visit several community projects supported by the ABD. This UNDP programme works in Karakalpakstan and Kashkadarya region to increase capacity of local governments to support policies that provide incentives for local development and greater self-sufficiency of the rural population. The Area Based Development project uses the time honoured practice of hashar where members of a village contribute to the rehabilitation of community infrastructures such health clines, schools, kindergarten voluntarily. “Not only does this bene¬fit the whole community but also fosters a sense of local ownership and helps save money” - says Gulnara Jappakova, an ABD community mobilizer.

Ms. Nirody and representatives from UN Agencies visited a newly constructed school and a demonstration plot for early vegetables in Chimbay district. Both of these interventions were possible thanks to support from UNDP and the willingness of communities to change for the better. Just before boarding her plane Ms. Nirody remarked that “these are all unique projects that work for and with people who care about their development and communities”.