Two years ago, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said, “We need to work toward a world in which access to networks and information brings people closer together and expands the definition of the global community.” This week, I saw her call to action happening live, as a group of six Internet Freedom Fellows, brought together by the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Mission in Geneva, sat down to break bread with UNESCO and […]

Last week, Rio+20 focused the world’s attention on sustainable development.  Issues ranging from expanding access to energy to protecting the oceans to improving health care led the global conversation. While much of the attention surrounding the conference has focused on the outcome document – which is important and should be examined – we can’t measure Rio+20’s success based solely on text.  After all, documents alone don’t produce change – change comes from people taking action.

Ryan Allis, member of the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council, is joining us today as a guest blogger. Since joining the Council Ryan has worked as the Co-Founder and CEO of iContact, the leading global provider of email marketing services, through the sale of the company this past spring. This summer he is starting a new mobile software company in San Francisco before heading off to Harvard Business School in the Fall. Ryan Allis

It’s been a big sports year for cities across the U.S. Some team from New York won the Super Bowl; Kentucky and Baylor won the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships, respectively; LA won the Stanley Cup; and those three stars in Miami won the NBA Championship. For sports fans across the country, there’s been some regional parity—a little something for everyone to cheer about. Some champions were expected, while others played the role of

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For the first time in her 30 years, a young woman named Miriam is experiencing the life-changing opportunity of an education free from fear. Since South Sudan emerged as an independent nation just a year ago today, she has become one, among thousands, who are pursuing a greater future. “I am pleased to congratulate the people of South Sudan on their very first Independence Day,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan E. Rice said

As we get closer to the London Summit on Family Planning, people often ask me, “Why is family planning so important to you?” The simple answer is that it can mean everything to so many of the women and families I meet. It means the difference between being empowered and feeling powerless. It means the difference between celebrating a daughter’s graduation and watching her drop out of school. It even means the difference between life

As a child growing up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, I watched my mother go to work each day, dedicated to running our local women’s health clinic. A staunch defender of reproductive rights, she was armed with more than a team of medical experts, but also the kindness and wisdom that patients—many of them young women—relied on to prepare for the rest of their lives. Today, a grown adult with my own children, I see that the