Hello, All:

This week, we finalized the “Harvest” & “The Veil” Open Calls. October general content submissions are still being processed through Tuesday. Thank you!!

Please note:

• The first Career Focus Meeting for Q4 staff has been scheduled for October 17th on HeyPeers. Register here for an opportunity to meet your supervisor & other staff members. After creating an account, click on “Organizations,” then “34 Gallery” to see our meeting list. Problems? Email : [email protected]

• Be aware: Seven professionals declined Q4 service after being onboarded. We are also handling a technical glitch with our websites. These issues have offset our schedule by a full week, particularly regarding videography assignments.

• We are responding to your inquiries as quickly as we can. Thank you for your patience with our response times.

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  Q4 Online Volunteer Service

  

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Administrative Notices

• Please Be Advised: Part of your assignment is also social media participation. It takes very little to save a life. Liking and commenting on artwork we feature directly reduces distress for those utilizing our Art Therapy Open Calls to cope.

• Understand that we operate in a crisis setting. Operations may become uneven due to increased global instability, geopolitics, technology issues, and inclement weather. Communication with individuals in crisis or at-risk also take priority.

• Recognize that staff members are also volunteers. Be kind and courteous when making requests or inquiries.

• We are unable to provide references for absentee volunteers. Simuka Africa can only verify completed assignments to prospective employers, programs and other opportunities.

• New UNV Volunteers: During your service, be sure to Complete the Essential & Mandatory Courses on the UNV E-Campus by Jan. 2nd, 2027.

• Questions about assignments or protocol? Respond to this Briefing or email [email protected].

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The November Social Media Calendar

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The next deadline for assignments is October 30th.

We encourage you to create heartfelt content based on what aligns with your career goals and interests. Check our websites and social media for examples of what we publish.

These are our content creation guidelines:

• Art, Poetry, & Fiction Submissions: 34 Gallery Open Call instructions are here.

• Virtual Publications: Articles are 700 words minimum. Submissions can also include up to 4 graphics or artworks. Personal Essays on mental health, education, or career topics are also welcome.

• Graphic Design & Video: Graphics should be submitted in batches of 4, 8 or 12. Video must be 2 minutes or less.

• Email us your selected topic first to reserve a spot on the publication calendar.

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Suggested Topic List

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Simuka Africa Volunteers have successfully attained employment, internships, Fellowships, and other positions based on their active publication history with us. Report summaries in particular provide an edge in the job interview process.

• Be advised the submission is not a guarantee of publication. Assignments that are full of errors, improperly sourced, and less than 700 words will not be published.

• Articles that violate politically neutrality also cannot be published. Our content must remain visible for our global audience members in mental health crisis residing in areas of restricted speech.

• Articles, video or graphics can be submitted for any of these topics except report summaries and listings requesting a particular format.

If you have time in your schedule to complete one of these, notify us with your selected topic by responding to this briefing or emailing us directly:

• UN Observance Day: World Science Day for Peace and Development, 10 November

• UN Observance Day: World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence - 18 November

• UN Observance Day: World Children's Day - 20 November

• UN Observance Day: World Philosophy Day - Nov. 20th

• UN Observance Day: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women - 25 November

• UN Observance Day: International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage — New Designation as of 2026 for Nov. 27th

• ILO Report Summary: Lifelong learning and skills for the future

• WHO Report Summary: Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2030

• TTF Report Summary: Strategic Plan 2026-2029 of the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030

• UNESCO Report Summary: SDG 4 scorecard progress report on national benchmarks: focus on completion rates, 2026

• Can’t make the deadline? Things happen. Just notify us so your task can be reassigned. However, be advised that Simuka Africa is unable to issue recommendation letters or UNV reports on your behalf without a record of submitted assignments during the quarter.

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The United Nations System: An Introduction

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SimukaAfrica.org is listed as UN SDG Action Cause #53469.

• The UNDP & Zimbabwe: Building Climate Resilience of Vulnerable Agricultural Livelihoods in Southern Zimbabwe

• THE UNDP & Zimbabwe: The Green Climate Fund Secretariat’s Inaugural Country Engagement and Programming Mission to Zimbabwe.

• WHO: Breast Cancer Awareness Month: ‘Every Story is Unique, Every Journey Matters’

• Introduction to The Child Nutrition Fund

• UNESCO Institute of Statistics: Measuring gender equality in science: Why better data matter

• UNESCO Institute of Statistics: SDG 4 scorecard progress report on national benchmarks: focus on completion rates, 2026

• The Accra Reset is a Head-of-State-anchored initiative to rebuild global development cooperation around practical sovereignty, execution capacity, and shared prosperity in the Global South and beyond.

• The N4G Global Compact for Nutrition Integration is a collective effort to mobilize, sustain, and implement nutrition integration commitments from a broad range of stakeholders.

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  International Trainings

• UNV Masterclass: Personal Advocacy — 27 October 2026

• UNV Data Analysis: Microsoft Excel Webinar Series 

  Beginner Level, Working with Dates: October 14

  Intermediate Level, Text Functions: November 12

  Advanced Level, Logical & Counting Functions: December 10

• 10 Free UNSSC Online Courses 2026 — Learn about climate action, sustainability, peace & security online.

• These FREE self-paced online courses allow you to learn at your own pace, with certificates available for eligible courses:

  Green Marketing Challenge – UN System Staff College

  Introduction to Standards & Sustainability – International Trade Centre

  Investment Project Preparation & Appraisal – UNIDO

  Foundations of Central Bank Law – IMF

  Financial Development & Financial Inclusion

  Introduction to Corporate Social Responsibility – ITC

  Trade & Circular Economy – WTO

  Taking the Entrepreneurship Route – ITC

  Work & Employment for a Sustainable Future – SDG Academy

  Sustainability Learning Pathway

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United Nations Employment

• UN Careers - the primary UN career hub

• UNJOBNET - daily job listings for the entire UN System

• UNJOBNET: Remote Positions - daily updated UN remote work

• IISD Climate Change Jobs

• UN Women Careers

• The World Bank Government Analytics Fellowship 2027 offers practical, project-based learning and expert support to help address real institutional challenges.

•  The UN Voluntary Fund for Indigenous Peoples offers eligible representatives financial support to participate in key UN meetings and strengthen advocacy for their communities.

• The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is recruiting experienced professionals for Human Rights Officer positions at P-3, P-4 and P-5 levels, with opportunities connected to UN locations worldwide. 

• The European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) is recruiting for 18 Auxiliary Contract Staff positions across scientific research, AI, cybersecurity, clean energy, climate action, economics, nuclear science, policy, HR and administration.

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A.I. Policy, News & Jobs

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Our Simuka Africa A.I. Organizational Policy can be found here. It also includes direct links to the A.I. Tools most asked about in job interviews.

• Zimbabwe & A.I Development: Zimbabwe opens first rural AI hub

• Humentum: AI and Excel for Finance Managers

• Humentum: The AI Governance Gap: What Leaders and Boards Are Missing

• Humentum: Know What AI Tools Can and Can’t Do: Discernment as a Project Manager Skill

• Humentum: Five AI Skills Every Project Manager Should Build

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Science, A.I. & Tech Opportunities

• The Global AI & Digital Summit hosted by the World Bank Group in partnership with the Republic of Korea's Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) and Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT), will bring together leaders from government, business, academia, civil society, and development organizations in Seoul to explore how AI and digital technologies, including small AI, can create jobs, boost productivity, and expand access to services. (Oct. 20 - 21)

• World Bank Live Webinar: Small AI, Real Jobs (Oct. 11th)

• Free GIZ Data Governance Certificate Courses — Build practical skills in data governance and Africa’s digital economy.

• ITU-UNDP Responsible Digital Transformation Course —Learn about AI, data governance and impact assessments.

• UN GIS & OpenStreetMap Courses — Develop practical GIS, mapping and geospatial skills through UN Maps.

• NASA Open Science Training — Free Open Science Essentials and Open Science 101 courses.

• The Digital Training Academy (Nigeria)

• Data Annotation: Train AI as a Medical Expert

• Data Annotation: Train AI as a Legal Expert

• Entelect Careers (Zimbabwe)

• Hippocratic AI: Careers

• Navina: Careers

• The AI Job Board

• Helm.ai Careers

• All Tech Is Human Job Board — Ethical AI Jobs

• Handshake Job Board

• Working Nomads Job Board

• The NVIDIA Graduate Fellowship Program offers financial support and a required internship to PhD students conducting research in accelerated computing and related fields.

• The Branco Weiss Fellowship provides up to five years of funding for outstanding postdoctoral researchers from any discipline to pursue independent scientific projects at the host institution of their choice worldwide.

• Anima Mundi invites digital visual submissions from individuals, start-ups, and communities worldwide to illuminate how cultural traditions can guide responsible AI governance through art and storytelling.

• The Amazon Research Awards is offering proposals for research on synthetic data generation for multimodal perception, supporting advances in text-to-simulation, audio-visual synthesis, long-horizon episode generation and action-conditioned scenario synthesis.

• The Build on Trainium provides AWS Promotional Credits and resources to support academic research advancing agentic, self-improving AI frameworks and kernel optimization on AWS Trainium.

• The Individual Fellowship Program provides artists, scholars, and arts professionals from Asia and the U.S. with support for research, self-directed exploration, and cultural immersion in a new or less familiar environment.

• The European Court of Auditors (ECA) offers traineeships in audit, communications, law, translation, administration, IT, artificial intelligence and more. 

• Claude Corps 2027 is connecting early-career AI talent with nonprofits, government agencies and public-interest organizations across the United States for a fully funded, 12-month fellowship.

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Opportunities

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Career Tip, I: Where Africa’s Development Job Opportunities Are Emerging — Devex Career Briefing

• Careers at Zepz

• Careers 24 — (Zimbabwe)

• ARTJOBS: Job Vacancies

• ARTJOBS: Calls for art

• Jobs.art — art careers

• 482 Jobs Australia

• Idealist.org: Remote Positions

• Flexjobs Remote Job Board

• No Desk Remote Job Board

• Remote.com Job Board

• Real Work From Anywhere Job Board

• Climate Action Reserve Remote Jobs

• Working at The Bridgespan Group means collaborating on breakthrough nonprofit and philanthropic strategies with some of the smartest, most passionate people you will ever meet.  

• Enrollment Now Open for the PQ Coaching Grant Program - DEADLINE: OCT. 12th

• Obsidian cultivates, through publication and critical inquiry, support for Black, African, and African Diaspora creatives globally. Submit by Oct. 16th.

• The World's Biggest Business Competition offers entrepreneurs the chance to compete and gain recognition to start or grow their business.

• Peachscore offers an equity-free, virtual accelerator program providing mentorship, data-driven tools, and investor networking for founders and startups worldwide.

• The Ole Staxen Foundation offers a four-week artist residency at Refugiet Rævehaugen with a grant for artists who have completed an artistic education or equivalent degree within the past five years.

• The Asian Development Bank-Japan Scholarship Program provides full scholarships for citizens of ADB developing member countries to pursue eligible Master's degrees at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa through the East-West Center.

• The Nieman-Berkman Klein Fellowship in Journalism Innovation offers journalists and media professionals to pursue a year-long research or project on journalism’s digital transformation at Harvard University.

• The Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship is seeking visionary researchers and practitioners to join the GAIMF Research Lab as Research Associates to advance creative health research worldwide.- Deadline: Thursday 15th October, 2026.

• The Learning Planet Youth Design Challenge is inviting applicants aged 15–26 worldwide to submit innovative education projects that create real-world impact in the areas of peace, mental health, or the environment.

• The Alice McCosh Trust is inviting applicants for one-off grants to support individuals pursuing work or study projects focused on natural history or the environment.

• The Tokyo Global Innovation Challenge is inviting student teams from universities in Japan and abroad to submit entrepreneurial business ideas or early-stage startups that address pressing social issues.

• Safe In Our World is seeking passionate individuals from the global games community to join its Mental Health Ambassador Program and help promote mental health awareness and safer gaming environments.

• Belgrade Photo Month invites emerging photographers worldwide, born after January 1, 2002, to submit projects exploring the theme 'REBORN' for its New Talents 2027 exhibition.

• The GLF Social Media Ambassadors Program is a global online volunteer program that supports young digital storytellers, content creators and advocates (18 - 35) around the world to bring more diverse voices into the conversation on sustainable landscapes. Deadline: 17 October 2026 (23:59 GMT)

• The Global Ideas Competition invites graduate and postgraduate students worldwide to submit innovative solution briefs and video explainers for a chance to participate as a Leader of Tomorrow at the St. Gallen Symposium with all expenses covered.

• The 1st International Mute Photo Festival Award is inviting photographers worldwide to submit series created with children's thermal print cameras exploring humanity's connection with nature.

• The Knight-Wallace Fellowship Program has launched its applications to support mid-career journalists with an immersive academic year of study and professional development at the University of Michigan.

• The TIMERA Fellowship, funded by Global Health EDCTP3, offers a 12-month blended learning programme to strengthen infectious disease modelling capacity in Africa.

• The Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) brings together policymakers, researchers, activists, practitioners, artists and movement-builders from around the world.

• The Pfizer Futures Internship 2027 offers undergraduate students hands-on experience, mentorship, professional development, and opportunities to work on meaningful projects that impact patients’ lives.

• The NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship 2027 will select 3 writers, with each receiving $20,000 to revise a feature screenplay or TV pilot exploring climate change and climate solutions.

• Young sustainability leader aged 18–30 from the Global South: The Hamburg Sustainability Conference Youth Ambassador Program offers a unique opportunity to connect with global leaders, share your ideas and contribute to international sustainability discussions.

•  The Ethics Centre is inviting young writers aged 13–29 to submit original non-fiction writing exploring the ethical issues that matter to them.

• The DAAD In-Country/In-Region Programme supports selected development-related Master’s programmes for graduates from Sub-Saharan Africa.

• The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master in International Law of Security, Peace and Sustainable Development (ILSPSD) is a 24-month master’s programme combining international law, security, peace, politics and sustainability, with students studying across 3+ European countries.

• The Young CAS Grant 2027–2029 gives researchers the opportunity to lead an international collaborative research project at the Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) in Oslo, Norway.

• The Anzisha Venture Building Fellowship 2027 offers business support, cash stipends, financial readiness training, experiential learning and a chance to compete for a share of US$40,000 in prizes!

• The IMF Economist Program (EP) is a 3-year rotational program offering hands-on experience in economic policy, country surveillance, research, fiscal and monetary policy, and global economic issues.

• The Global Leadership Challenge 2026 will bring together 100 emerging leaders worldwide for leadership training, mentorship, global networking, action projects and a Certificate of Achievement.

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Food For Thought

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• Self-care, I: World Mental Health Day 2026 "Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change"

In closing, mental health is often overlooked and unacknowledged until it forces bodily exhausion and illness. We encourage you to prevent this type of burnout by trying the following worksheets & apps for a better routine:

• Insight Timer

• Calm

• Headspace

• Remember The Milk

• Smiling Mind

• LetterLife for Women

• 7 Cups

• Mental Health Worksheets to learn additional coping skills.

• Experiencing stress at work? Try this free Work Burnout Workbook.

• Experiencing stress as a student? Try this Academic Student Burnout Workbook.

• Experiencing stress as a caregiver? Try the Caregiver Burnout Workbook.

  This weekend, research ways to improve your self-care routine!

— The Simuka Africa Team ❤

May hope, peace & unity always be with you.