Last month, I spent 10 days zigzagging across India, stopping in six cities on an unforgettable journey to visit the sites of several projects that the mHealth Alliance supports through our Innovation Working Group catalytic grant program. Through this program, which is supported by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation, we provide funding and technical assistance for mobile health (mHealth) projects that aim to improve maternal and child health in low- and middle-income countries. This […]

Editor’s Note: Today we are highlighting inspiring people who work on issues we care about and have been nominated for CNN Hero of the Year. Voting for CNN Hero of the Year ends this Sunday and can be done here: heroes.cnn.com When the sun sets tonight around the world, more than 400 maternity clinics that long labored in darkness will have light. Reliable, robust, and easy to use “Solar Suitcases” will provide light and power

Editor’s Note: Today we are highlighting inspiring people who work on issues we care about and have been nominated for CNN Hero of the Year. Voting for CNN Hero of the Year ends this Sunday and can be done here: heroes.cnn.com This post originally appeared in Million Moms Challenge. At age five, Kakenya was engaged to a boy from her neighborhood, and she considered herself lucky. Her new fiancée was around her age, and most

John Kluge, Co-Founder of Toilet Hackers  Sometimes the things that bring the greatest benefits to our lives are also the most underappreciated. Example: toilets. Can you imagine your life without one? That’s the reality for almost 40 percent of the world. At least 2.5 billion people don’t have access to toilets that protect them and their community from contact with human waste. November 19, World Toilet Day, is a day to appreciate what we have

Kris Baylon, United Nations Foundation Intern Editor’s Note: Donate to the UN Central Emergency Response Fund to help families affected by the recent typhoon and other disasters. On November 8, Typhoon Haiyan ripped through my home country of the Philippines. The scenes of devastation are heartbreaking: The latest report estimates that more than 4 million people have been displaced and 13 million have been affected. For those of us outside the Philippines, the most we

By Sarah Green Since the birth of the United Nations 68 years ago, its mandate has been to address the world’s most pressing issues in order to maintain international peace and security. To help solve these challenges, the UN is increasing its task force — but not in the way you might think. United Nations officials are encouraging, supporting, and partnering with young entrepreneurs who are helping to swiftly and efficiently create sustainable solutions to

The second stop of my 10-day, 6-city journey across India took me to a village called Barwani, approximately three hours southwest of Indore in the state of Madhya Pradesh. As with other stops along the way, my purpose was to visit the site of a mobile health project that the mHealth Alliance supports through our Innovation Working Group catalytic grant program. I traveled the bumpy road to Barwani, watching the landscape around me grow increasingly

Over the long arc of its history, our Association has been about action.  Whether it was providing volunteers to staff the public affairs arm of the new UN headquarters in the 1950’s or our ongoing effort to provide UNDP with grassroots input on the Post-2015 development agenda, when called to action by UN leaders, our members rise to the challenge.  In asking for our support for the UN Convention on the Rights of People with

By Asif Khan and Katherine Conway Today, we focus on violence against girls and women, which is unfortunately a worldwide phenomenon. Did you know that 7 out of 10 women have experienced some form of violence in their lifetime? That’s 7 women too many. Violence takes many forms – physical, sexual, emotional, and mental – and the vast majority of it is perpetrated by men and boys. Angel Ortiz, a Girl Up club leader for