UN – United Nations

The World Economic Forum – which brought together leaders from business, government, civil society, and the United Nations – just wrapped up, but the dialogue on pressing global issues will continue in the weeks and months ahead. The good news is that many of the discussions focused on how we can advance progress on the Sustainable Development Goals, the world’s shared agenda to end poverty, promote opportunity for all, and tackle environmental and climate challenges. […]

Our news feeds are often filled with stories of serious global challenges, which rightly deserve our attention, yet it is important to remember that we also are making amazing progress on a number of efforts that will create a better world. When people from across sectors and across the world work with the United Nations and each other, we can make a difference in people’s lives. Here are four stories of progress you may have

If the spread of the Zika virus does indeed reach epidemic levels, its impact will underscore once more the lethal intersection of class and gender in public health tragedies. The poor always suffer disproportionately when new forms of disease strike; when this poverty is also combined with other kinds of social marginalization, such as gender (or, for instance, sexual minority status in the case of HIV/AIDS) the assault is usually greater than the sum of

This weekend, Santa Clara, California will have the honor of hosting Super Bowl 50. In its bid to host the big game, Santa Clara beat out four other cities, each vying for the approximately $500 million the NFL championship pumps into the host city’s economy. While hosting the Super Bowl is a big deal, hosting the United Nations is an even bigger deal. That’s according to a recent op-ed by New York City’s Office for

(Photo credit: PAHO) Zika virus is all over the news, and rightly so. A disease with no easy and fool-proof prevention strategy, and no known cure, has people in the Americas and elsewhere nervous, especially due to the likely link between the virus and the neurological disorders in babies born to mothers infected during pregnancy. Although local and national governments and health organizations in Brazil and elsewhere have been focused on Zika since at least

Today the United Nations and the governments of the United Kingdom, Kuwait, Germany, and Norway are hosting a conference to raise awareness and funds for Syrians in need of humanitarian aid. The conflict in Syria has driven more than 4 million people out of the country and left more than 13 million people in need of assistance. The World Food Programme has shared a moving portrait of some of these people. – They are mothers

February 6 has been designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Having such an earmarked time to draw attention to what is undoubtedly a practice that harms – physically, emotionally, and psychologically – the several million girls and women who have undergone some form of the procedure and will continue to undergo it if current trends persist makes eminent sense. It makes sense because such

The future is something that we talk about, yet it can be a difficult thing to “see.” But we have gotten a glimpse of what the future will look like during a meeting taking place this week in Dubai. The theme of this convening is “shaping future governments” and it asks how governments around the world can innovate to deliver in better, more meaningful ways for their people. As the international community works to achieve

You can’t talk about the future without talking about young people. And you can’t talk about young people, without including their voices. United Nations Foundation President and CEO Kathy Calvin brought that message today to a summit in Dubai about how innovation can help governments better deliver services for their citizens – a key priority as governments, alongside the private and citizen sectors, move from agreement to action on the global goals for sustainable development.