Thomas Schirrmacher and Matthias Böhning met Tony Kurbanov, Executive Coordinator of UN VOLUNTEERS (UNV), which is administered by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
They especially were interested in the consequences of covid19 and the lockdowns on the programm. Kurbavon reported, that actually the number for volunteers went up, as local/national volunteers replaced the volunteers, most of whom came from other countries than the one they served in.
Kurbanov originally worked as Ambassador of Turkmenistan to Armenia. Since 2004 he works for UNDP in diverse places as New York, Fiji Islands and as country director in Myanmar. 2016 he moved to Bonn as the Deputy Executive Coordinator of the UN VOLUNTEERS. End of 2020 he was appointed Executive Director by Achim Steiner, Administrator of UNDP (https://www.unbonn.org/news/appointment-executive-coordinator-united-nations-volunteers-unv)
https://www.unv.org/toily-kurbanov-unv-executive-coordinator
