On a hot day in June, Senators met in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington, D.C. to discuss the issues of global warming and the greenhouse gas effect. “We have only one planet. If we screw it up, we have no place else to go,” warned Senator J. Bennett Johnston from Louisiana. Among the experts who testified was Dr. James Hansen, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who hammered home three […]

Recently, Americans from across the country and across political lines gathered in Washington, D.C. to urge Congress to support strong U.S. leadership in the United Nations. During the United Nations Association of the USA’s annual Leadership Summit, members held over 300 meetings on Capitol Hill to support a fully funded UN. What were the key messages from their visit? Here are three takeaways from the 2018 UNA-USA Leadership Summit: A Broad Group of Americans Support

In a few weeks, the global development community will come together at the UN to assess progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. Three years into SDG implementation, we know one thing for sure: We will not achieve this ambitious agenda without significant financing. Current estimates suggest that achieving the SDGs will require $5-7 trillion in annual investments – a figure that will be impossible to meet without

As part of our “Americans in the UN” project to share the stories of Americans who work for the United Nations, we connected with Deborah Greenfield, the Deputy Director-General for Policy at the International Labour Organization (ILO). Prior to joining ILO, Greenfield served as the Deputy Solicitor for the U.S. Department of Labor. Originally from New York City, she earned a Bachelor’s degree from Swarthmore College, and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. Watch

Three years into tracking progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a few insights have emerged from how governments review, report on, and use progress to achieve the SDGs. While there are legitimate questions about how effective voluntary self-reporting on progress can be (a bit like letting your kid write her own report card), the way governments currently review SDGs progress has its advantages, as pointed out in this earlier blog post. The review process

Public-private partnerships or “PPPs” have been the cherished and widely used approach for collaboration in global development for more than two decades. However, more recently, partnerships have taken on new forms due to a range of factors – and arguably in response to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   The new models are intriguing and a cause for optimism because they have great potential for transformative impact. And if they stick, their silo-busting forms herald

Amid perpetual headlines about conflict, division, and other major global challenges, uplifting stories of progress often get lost in the noise. It’s important to remember that we can transform people’s lives for the better when individuals from across sectors and across the world work with the United Nations and each other. It happens every day. These five news stories from June and July bear proof that progress can be made toward a more equitable, healthy,

Thousands of people have descended on the United Nations with one thing on their minds: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, they’ve gathered to assess where we are on the SDGs and how we can do better. What have been some of the highlights of those conversations? The High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, taking place from July 9-18, is the place to be this time every year to review how we are doing

In an important move, the United Nations Security Council recently authorized an arms embargo banning all countries from selling weapons to South Sudan until May 2019. This represents the best hope for the country to move toward peace since the civil war began. The action taken by the Security Council – at the behest of the United States and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley – is a strong sign from the international community