Photo: Maria Miyasiro serves with UNDP in Peru as a UN Volunteer Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing Specialist. Here, at a park close to Lomas de Mangomarca (fog oasis), San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima, Peru, she conducts an environmental awareness session about the importance of the oasis ecosystems to park visitors.

© Adriana Kato/UNDP, 2018

End of assignment

Expiration or early termination of assignments

There are five circumstances which relate to the end of an assignment:

Expiry of Contract
Resignation by UN Volunteer
Termination by UNV
Abandonment of post
Death of a UN Volunteer

Intended expiration

Without an official extension or new assignment, your volunteer’s contract will cease on the original end of contract date.

Recognise the UN Volunteer’s development and turn a sad goodbye into a positive celebration of what you achieved together.

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Confirm your volunteer’s final day

Keep an eye on your UN Volunteer's contract end date. Your UNV focal person will remind you when it's close.

Let your UNV contact point know that you would like the assignment to end on the expected end date. Else, the volunteer may be taken off the payroll 15 days before the end of contract date to avoid excess payment - it is up to you to act on time.

Give your volunteer advance notice that their contract won’t be extended and start planning their exit strategy.

Encourage them to take accrued annual leave, perhaps in the last days/weeks before the assignment ends. Unused leave will be forfeited.

Ask for handover notes from your volunteer, who can delegate unfinished tasks and information to the right person.

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Organize closing reports and admin

Complete to your UNV focal person that the UN Volunteer has no outstanding debts or administrative actions with your agency, and that all assets loaned have been returned. Payment of final entitlements depends on your host organization and UNDP approving the final checklist online clearing all outstanding obligations (financial or otherwise).

Remind the volunteer to complete our Volunteer Reporting Application (VRA).

Arrange an exit interview or final performance appraisal to ask about your volunteer’s experience at work. Take ideas from their honest feedback to improve processes and productivity at work.

Recognize and reflect on your volunteer’s contribution and skills developed through the assignment. Take time to answer questions and grievances. Respecting and appreciating your volunteer now, as you always have, could mean they always champion your organization.

Reassure your volunteer that their final entitlements will be paid into their bank account when the final clearance checklist is approved, at the end of the assignment.

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Say your fond farewells

Let your team and stakeholders know your volunteer’s leaving.

Write a reference letter acknowledging your volunteer’s contributions and commitment, including new skills and abilities learned during the assignment.

Organize a farewell event for your volunteer to help them move on successfully, feeling that they’ve made a difference and grown under your supervision. Your team will also appreciate this chance to say their goodbyes.

Also review Standard Operating Procedures on Expiry of Contract / End-of-Assignment.

Download PDF Expiry of Contract checklist

Accept your volunteer’s resignation in UVP

If your volunteer resigns during their assignment, there are steps you need to take to formalize the end of their contract. Here’s how to end the assignment early.

UNV will confirm the UN Volunteer's resignation Unified Volunteering Platform (UVP) on your behalf. Let them know that you are happy with the particulars entered by your volunteer in the system.

Your volunteer may leave 30 calendar days after submitting their resignation. It is the minimum notice period. They may however declare their resignation any time before their notice period starts.

Advise your UN Volunteer that they'll forfeit your exit lump sum allowance in full or parts if they have failed to provide due notice, submit their Final Clearance Checklist and necessary reports, and complete their initial contract.

Once you approve their resignation online, follow standard procedure for expiry of contract (see tab above).

Also review Standard Operating Procedures on End-of-Assignment (Resignation).

Download PDF Resignation by UN Volunteer checklist

Terminate your volunteer mid-contract

If you need to terminate your volunteer’s assignment early, let us and your organisation assist you.

There are several grounds on which you may terminate the volunteer’s contract early such as:

1. You have found the volunteer to be unsuitable for the UNV assignment in light of new information or undisclosed facts.

2. A disciplinary review has recommended summarily dismissal or early separation for acts of misconduct.

3. The project or operation that your volunteer was assigned to ends early.

4. You have documented evidence that the volunteer’s work is unsatisfactory, or they are underperforming.

5. We need to take action in the interest of the organization due to external circumstances not caused by the volunteer.

6. You have failed to find a suitable new volunteer opportunity up to two months from security evacuation.

7. To relieve long term injured or sick volunteers from working.

8. Other reasons for termination, provided the volunteer agrees to end the contract.

Contact our Regional Office and email ‘support@unv.org’ to find the right solution.

Download PDF Termination by UNV checklist

Mark unauthorized absence as abandonment on the 10th workday

Being away from work without authorization is considered a breach of contract. It could lead to early separation of the volunteer for abandoning their post. If a UN Volunteer does not turn up for work, contact them repeatedly for 10 working days, until you’re answered, to try to find out where they are and why.

Please document your calls, messages and your volunteer’s responses, if any. The post is considered abandoned and the contract ceased on the 10th workday.

• Email and call your volunteer, immediately, on the first day of their unauthorised absence asking for the reason and the date they’ll return to work.

• Ask your volunteer to apply for leave with supporting documentation when they reply.

• Inform 'support@unv.org' when your volunteer is unresponsive and uncontactable.

• Send the email below to your volunteer. Also, call to check where they are and explain the consequences of being away from work without permission for 10 days

• Tell UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) that your volunteer could be missing. Reassure yourself that it’s not unusual to be unreachable, even when you’re following standard security protocol.

• Confirm abandonment of post after no response from your volunteer. Email 'support@unv.org' copies of your follow-up communication and your attempts to reach your volunteer.

• Speak to the national authorities who may need to revoke the volunteer’s visa and work permit.

• We will follow-up with the paperwork to complete the process.

Email template

To: UN Volunteer@unv.org

Dear [ UN Volunteer’s name ],

Please contact us urgently. We are concerned about your health and wellbeing.

Being absent for 10 working days without permission or written explanation is a breach of contract.

You could lose:

• Your UN Volunteer assignment

• Your financial entitlements

You may also be required to repay amounts previously paid to you.

Tell us what’s happening, let us help and you can prevent termination of your contract due to abandonment of your post. That would end your assignment with us and your first day absent ( [ dd/mm/yy ] ) from work will be recorded as your contract end date as a UN Volunteer.

You’ve been repeatedly emailed and called, ever since [ dates ].

It concerns us greatly that you have not answered. Please do so now.

[ Your name ]

Supervisor, [ Your organization’s name ]

[ Contact details ]

Download PDF Abandonment of post checklist

Death of a UN Volunteer

In the event that your UN Volunteer has passed away, please accept our whole-hearted condolences.

Report and react to this fatality sensitively and get your volunteer home to their family. Given the diverse background of UN Volunteers, extreme cultural sensitivity must be exercised at all times. The impacts of this tragedy (emotional, legal, financial) aren’t yours to bear alone, but for us to help you throughout. Contact our Regional Office immediately and follow the guidance below:

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Share the news with us and the family

Email ‘support@unv.org’ immediately with information on the date and cause of death of your UN Volunteer. We must inform CIGNA and UN Joint Medical Services urgently. Continue to keep us, your organization and partners informed.

We will identify the emergency contact person on the volunteer’s beneficiary form.

Consult with us on how best to inform the family, with advice from the UNDP country office in the volunteer’s home country.

Take comfort from knowing that UNV’s condolence letter was delivered to the family by UNDP representatives personally, and members of your organization where possible.

Clarify facts, discuss feelings and acknowledge grief with your team. Everyone will process loss differently; please be culturally sensitive.

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Leave the administration to us

Trust us to get your volunteer home. Where appropriate, the family will be asked to authorize a post-mortem. Storage, embalming and transport costs from the duty station to the home country are covered.

Contract, insurance and payroll will be terminated in the system. Medical insurance for recognised dependents at the duty station extended for 45 days.

Know unpaid financial entitlements will go to your volunteer’s chosen beneficiary. This includes their volunteer living and resettlement allowances.

Understand that life insurance is paid by CIGNA when required documents are submitted (full medical or autopsy report, official death certificate, and birth certificate or equivalent). This can be paid only to the volunteer’s documented beneficiaries.

Handle financial settlements in strict confidentiality. This is highly sensitive information and is illegal for us to mention compensation to anyone except your volunteer’s listed beneficiaries.

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Be prepared to step in where UNV or UNDP isn’t present

List your volunteer’s personal belongings, at home and at work, with a witness from the UN Department of Safety and Security. The family will be sent all personal effects.

Help file the cause of death with CIGNA who will pay out life insurance, when given the full medical or autopsy report, official death certificate, and birth certificate or equivalent.

Collect invoices and certificates for moving non-contagious human remains (from national authorities), coffin conformity, customs clearance and remains transportation.

Check out your volunteer’s office equipment in absentia on our system.

Cancel your volunteer’s lease and known personal contracts. Find out who else may have established contact with the volunteer from within and outside your organization and advise them of the volunteer’s passing.

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Grieve and commemorate

Help immediate family, friends and colleagues access counselling for emotional trauma from your organization or the UN Department of Safety and Security’s Critical Incident Stress Management Unit.

Create a condolence book for the family with pictures and memories of your volunteer.

Organize a memorial event (service, fundraiser, tree planting) in tribute of your UN Volunteer for colleagues and friends. Such thoughtfulness could bring all concerned, including the family of the deceased, comfort in this difficult time.

Also review Standard Operating Procedures on death of a UN Volunteer.

Download PDF Death of a UN Volunteer checklist