UN – United Nations

“Blogust” might be a funny sounding word, but every year this digital event has a big impact on children around the globe. Definition: Blogust is a month-long digital dialogue that has taken place every August since 2012. Bloggers from around the country post blogs to their pages on a specific day and ask their followers to comment on and share their posts. Every share and comment unlocks a vaccine donation from Walgreens to support children […]

By Jordie Hannum, Executive Director of the Better World Campaign  As the conflict in Gaza continues, United Nations humanitarian agencies are working around the clock to address desperate civilian needs. This morning, UN Under-Secretary-General Valerie Amos addressed the Security Council, outlining the UN’s urgent response and detailing the challenges that aid workers still face. In case you missed it, here are five key excerpts from her speech on the UN’s role in Gaza. 1.    Up

Our MDG Monday series continues with a look at Millennium Development Goal 7. MDG 7 focuses on ensuring environmental sustainability because a healthy environment is essential for healthy communities. Millennium Development Goal 7: Ensure Environmental Sustainability Target 7.A: Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources. Target 7.B: Reduce biodiversity loss, achieving, by 2010, a significant reduction in the rate of loss. Target 7.C: Halve,

This week, over 40 leaders from across Africa will come together in Washington, DC for the first U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit.  And perhaps nowhere is leadership more important on the continent than an issue like health. The unprecedented Ebola outbreak is one example.  To date, there have been nearly 1400 cases in 4 West African countries – spreading more rapidly across borders than any Ebola outbreak in memory. Tackling such an emerging threat requires both the

The world has entered a new energy era marked by concerns over energy security, climate change, and access by the poor to modern energy services. The current energy path is not sustainable. Carbon dioxide from energy production and use represents about 65% of global emissions and under current policies is estimated to increase by a third by 2020. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global demand for energy will increase by 45% by 2030,

Tarik Jasarevic, a spokesperson for the World Health Organization (WHO), has been deployed to West Africa twice in the past few months to manage communications around the Ebola outbreak that has now killed more than 900 people. In April, he spent 2.5 weeks in Guinea, and he just returned to Geneva from a 3.5 week deployment in Guinea and Sierra Leone. I had the chance to talk with him briefly about his experiences and about

Photo credit: Foundation Rural Energy Services Despite the prevalence of cell phones today across the African continent, one in every two young Africans still does not have access to modern energy services. While the lack of electricity represents a significant challenge given the social, educational, and economic opportunities that come with reliable power, developing innovative ways to address these issues sustainably is also a significant entrepreneurial opportunity. Harnessing the power of Africa’s entrepreneurial spirit, a

The United Nations Foundation is committed to working with our colleagues in the media to share information and build understanding about some our generation’s most pressing issues. Part of that commitment is a series of media fellowships that connect with our partners, their stories, and journalists around the world. There is tremendous vale in bringing these groups together as people gather for important meetings like the UN General Assembly. These fellowships provide journalists from around

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” – Helen Keller Today, we wrap up our MDG Monday series with a look at Millennium Development Goal 8, which aims to promote cooperation among countries and among sectors to advance development.Here are the targets it sets: Millennium Development Goal 8: Develop a Global Partnership for Development Target 8.A: Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. Target 8.B: Address