UN – United Nations

The Minister of Public Health for Chad, Ngarmbatina Odkimbeye Soukate, is the mother of four girls. This morning in Brussels, in a gathering of more than 45 government representatives from all continents and 400 parliamentarians and civil society participants, Minister Soukate declared, “If the world wants to advance, women have to decide.” Her passionate sentiment was the theme of She Decides, an international conference devoted to mobilizing political, financial, and practical support for global sexual and […]

Every year, U.S. public officials receive approximately 2 million more letters and calls from men than women. Research also suggests that women are less likely to write opinion editorials, speak up at town hall meetings, or consider running for office. The percent of U.S. women registered to vote in the 2010-2012 cycle was only 64.3%, and only 50% of registered women cast a ballot, a precursor to last November when almost half of all eligible

Note: This blog was co-authored by Ryan Kaminski, Senior Program Manager for Human Rights and Special Initiatives and Anna Mahalak, UNA-USA’s Manager of Youth Engagement. The top United Nations human rights body, the UN Human Rights Council, convened yesterday, March 6, 2017, for a high-level discussion on supporting the human rights of youth in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recommendations from GenUN advocates – members of the United Nations Association of the United States of America

I went to Calvary Women’s Services in Washington D.C. on a February morning to coach, encourage, and learn from women like Grace, and I left recommitted to the United Nations Foundation’s work to help empower girls and women. In honor of International Women’s Day, a team of UN Foundation colleagues and I spent the morning with approximately 30 women at Calvary as volunteers for a women’s job search boot camp. We fielded questions about job seeking, participated

Today, the United Nations Foundation’s Nothing But Nets campaign, which raises awareness and funding to fight malaria, unveiled its very first virtual reality film, “Under the Net.” Here are five things you need to know about this powerful documentary: “Under the Net” premiered this week at the Cinequest Film and VR Festival in San Jose, California. It has been named Best VR Documentary, and will be honored on Sunday during the closing awards ceremony. The film features

I just returned from Guatemala where the United Nations Foundation’s Girl Up team is focused on the UN’s vital work to empower indigenous girls and stop domestic violence in rural towns and villages. Thinking about the people I met there, I keep returning to one word: bravery. It takes bravery for girls to ask their parents to allow them to join the Espacio Amigable – “Safe Space” – program run by the UN in remote towns such

Engaging with the public is a key to global progress.  That is why I am inspired by what I am seeing this weekend as the Public Diplomacy and Government Communication Forum in Dubai, a first-of-its-kind gathering for public diplomacy professionals in the region, gets underway.  Public diplomacy is an ancient art and yet one that’s more relevant than ever. The world is more interconnected—and just plain connected, through technology and social media—than at any time in history. And today,

This March, a spotlight is shining on the role of women in the workplace. The conversation launched on International Women’s Day (March 8) with the theme “Women in the Changing World of Work: Planet 50-50 by 2030,” and discussions will continue throughout the 61st UN Commission on the Status of Women (March 13-24), which is focusing on “Women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work.” The Sustainable Development Goals have brought renewed interest in

As we speak, the UN Peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic, MINUSCA, is working around the clock outside of the town of Bambari to protect tens of thousands of civilians – many of whom are internally displaced – from encroaching rebel fighters. The religious and ethnic tensions in CAR coincided with the 20th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. The international community’s reminder of the failures of the UN in Rwanda helped deploy a