In a remote town in Ethiopia, a health worker learns lifesaving midwife tips from a WiFi-enabled tablet linked to a projector. In the Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan, displaced Syrian engineers help run a giant solar plant so families can cook, study, and work. In Kampala, Uganda, a team of analysts uses artificial intelligence to study public radio broadcasts and learn what marginalized communities really worry about. These stories span issues and geographies, yet they […]

Midwife Selamawit Giday and a crowd of maternal health workers are gathered around a wall at the local clinic in rural Adwa in Ethiopia’s far north. They’re watching arrows dart across anatomical charts projected onto its surface. The images come from a palm-sized, solar-powered smart projector that is helping save lives by teaching local midwives skills and information. Developed by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this portable “Mobile Learning System” is reaching communities in

Ruth Miller grew up in a household where social justice and family ancestry were common topics at the dinner table. Born in Anchorage, Alaska as a member of the Dena’ina Athabascan tribe and the Ashkenazi Jewish faith, she was raised by parents — both indigenous rights lawyers — to understand at an early age how human rights and her heritage intersect with the landscape around her. “Having the opportunity to grow up in my territory

The impossible is becoming possible – especially if you’re Burger King. The fast food giant partnered with plant-based food company Impossible Foods to create a vegan-friendly burger and is trialing it in restaurants in St. Louis, Missouri. I’ve tried something called an Impossible Burger in another restaurant and, if it’s the same thing, it’s delicious! This hungry carnivore is a happy convert. Livestock accounts for roughly 15% of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions – and

On April 29, experts from the United Nations and other organizations released a groundbreaking report – the culmination of more than two-and-a-half years of work – that calls for urgent global action on one of the most pressing and challenging global health threats of our time: antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The report from the Ad hoc Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (IACG) outlines recommendations on how to tackle AMR. The work of the group will

The United Nations is facing a cash crunch. At the beginning of 2019, Secretary-General António Guterres wrote to UN member states to warn them about the deteriorating state of the UN’s core peacekeeping and regular budgets. Together, the two budgets fund the UN’s central activities including 100,000 peacekeepers and 40,000 staff across the world. Member states are legally obliged to pay pre-determined contributions to the UN’s regular and peacekeeping budgets, but over recent years, payments

As part of our “Americans in the UN” project to share the stories of Americans who work for the United Nations, we connected with Linda Maguire, who currently serves as the Resident Representative in Panama for the UN Development Programme (UNDP).  In this role, Maguire leads the work of the UN’s main development agency in Panama, which collaborates with national partners to fight poverty, promote good governance, protect the environment, foster resilience to shocks, and

In Myanmar, Reuters reporters Kyaw Soe Oo and Wa Lone have been reporting on atrocities committed against Rohingya Muslims in Mynamar – and now face seven years in jail because of it. In Yemen, BBC correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi has traveled through dangerous terrain to share the stories of malnourished children, cut off from the food and medicine they need because of conflict. And in the Philippines, Rappler CEO and Executive Editor Maria Ressa, an emeritus