International Women’s Day, 2025
Rule Breakers: The Compelling True Story of Afghan Girls Who Risked All to Learn

Like the Afghan robotics team, Education Cannot Wait (ECW), the global fund for education in emergencies and protracted crises in the United Nations, is breaking the 'rules' and continuing to educate young women in that country despite an edict from the Taliban denying girls a secondary school education.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews Ramiz Alakbarov, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia

 
Dr. Ramiz Alakbarov was appointed as the UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator in Ethiopia by the UN Secretary-General António Guterres in August 2023.

International Women’s Day 2025: For All Women and Girls

 
In 2025, our world remains deeply unequal. Women earn, on average, 20% less than men globally.

Humanitarian Groups Face Challenges in Reaching the Sudanese Displaced Population

In the final quarter of 2024 ,there has been an escalation in the Sudanese civil war, with armed clashes between the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) having grown in brutality. Heightened insecurity has pushed millions of people into displacement, hunger, and poverty. Additionally, the continued hostilities have made it difficult for humanitarian organizations to scale their responses up.

How Tanzania’s Farmers, Pastoralists Paid the Price for a World Bank Project

A hush had fallen over Mbarali District, but it was not the quiet of peace—it was the silence of uncertainty. Just months ago, the rolling plains were gripped by fear as government-backed rangers, dressed in olive green fatigues, roamed through villages, seizing cattle, torching homes, and forcing entire communities to the wobbly edge of survival. The REGROW project, a USD 150 million initiative funded by the World Bank to expand Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA), had promised tourism growth and environmental conservation. What it delivered was a brutal campaign of state-sanctioned land grabbing under the guise of protecting nature.

Human Rights, Healthcare Disrupted in Eastern Europe With USAID Funding Freeze

As the full effects of the US decision to freeze foreign aid funding begin to be felt across the world, organizations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) are warning years of work in everything from delivering life-saving healthcare to defending human rights and strengthening democracy could be undone.

Afghan Refugees, Among Others, Feel the Impact of USAID Funding Freeze

“I was shocked when told by a security guard that the clinic has been closed down. I, along with my relatives, used to visit the clinic for free checkups,” Jamila Begum, 22, an Afghan woman, told IPS.

Gender Inequality in Science Limits Progress Towards Solving Complex Global Challenges

Today is the International Day of Women and Girls in Science and a time to take stock of progress, successes, and setbacks towards open and gender-inclusive science. Gender equality remains elusive in science, as only one in three scientists is a woman. Not only do these inequalities hold women back, but they also limit scientific progress.

Tanzanians with HIV Left in Crisis as USAID Funding Ends

At 9 a.m. on Monday, Mariam Msemwa clutched her clinic card tightly as she stood in line at Bagamoyo District Hospital’s HIV Clinic in Tanzania’s coastal region. The 19-year-old had been here many times before, picking up monthly doses of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs that kept her alive. But today was different.When she reached the counter, the nurse flatly told her. “There’s no more free medication, ” she said. “You’ll have to buy it yourself.”

Goma: What Have We Done to God to Deserve All This?

Zawadi Delphine is a soldier's wife and mother of three. She and her family live in Camp Katindo, east of the city of Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu. Recalling what happened on the night of Sunday, January 26, 2025, she says that her husband had come from the front, north of the city of Goma, visibly angry and in a hurry. Without telling her what was really going on, he had told her that they would only meet again by "divine grace."

U.S. White House Executive Order Raises Concerns for Its Support to the UN

A new executive order from the United States White House calls for withdrawing support from major UN entities and a review of all international intergovernmental organizations which the United States is a member of. The U.S.’s orders against the UN Palestine Refugee Agency also do not bode well for ongoing ceasefire negotiations in Gaza.

Israel’s Ban on UNRWA Threatens to Undermine Ceasefire in Palestine

On January 19, Israel and Hamas implemented a three-phase ceasefire agreement that seeks to end the war between Israel and Palestine, facilitate the exchange of prisoners and hostages between the two nations, and begin a period of reconstruction in the Gaza Strip. Since the ceasefire took effect, humanitarian organizations have struggled to assist hordes of displaced Palestinians as they made their treacherous returns back home. Insecurity has reached new peaks as Gazans struggle to cope with inadequate levels of humanitarian aid and the dangers of unexploded ordnance. Furthermore, the Israeli Knesset’s ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) is set to greatly exacerbate living conditions and access to aid.

Malnutrition in Nigeria Rises Alarmingly, Urgent Action Needed

In June 2024, 26-year-old Zainab Abdul noticed her two-year-old daughter growing pale, losing weight, and battling diarrhea. She wasn’t surprised. Since jihadist-linked bandits had forced them out of their village in Kadadaba, Zamfara State, in northwestern Nigeria, her family had been living in a refugee camp with limited access to food.

Armed Drone Attacks on Humanitarian Aid Efforts Put Future at Risk

Humanitarian aid operations in some places may become impossible in the future, experts have warned, as a new report shows a dramatic rise in the use of armed drones in conflict zones.

Sudan’s Humanitarian Crisis Expected to Worsen in 2025

As the Civil War rages on in Sudan, the nationwide humanitarian crisis continues to worsen. Armed conflict has caused an escalation in civilian casualties and displacement in the past few months. Additionally, famine looms in the nation’s most conflict-impacted areas, which is exacerbated by tightened restrictions that impede humanitarian aid deliveries. Despite numerous calls for a cessation of hostilities by the international community, relief efforts are severely underfunded.

Financing for Development Priorities Today

The forthcoming fourth United Nations Financing for Development conference must address developing countries’ major financial challenges. Recent setbacks to sustainable development and climate action make FfD4 all the more critical.

Who Will Save Nigeria’s Coastal City on the Brink of Extinction?

In 2021, Ojajuni Olufunsho, a 53-year-old resident of Ayetoro, a town along the Atlantic coast, southwestern Nigeria, saw her home swept away by the encroaching sea. What was once a spacious 10-room house, a sanctuary for Olufunsho and her five children, was swallowed by the relentless force of rising sea waters.

Food Crises Intensify in Winter Ravaged War Zones

The days are short with bitterly cold rain in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, the largest Balkan country located south of the Ukraine. Over the border, temperatures in Kyiv will plummet to a daily average of zero in December as the Ukraine war grinds on.

UN Commits to Supporting Syria in Political Transition, Adapting Humanitarian Support

In overthrowing Bashar al-Assad and his regime, Syria reaches the process of re-affirming its sovereignty, a process that the United Nations chief asserts must be led by the Syrian people.

Intra-Regional Relations the Key To Sustainable Development in the Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa holds the resources and potential for lasting development and resilience. The countries in the subregion and development partners need to come together to invest in regional cooperation and resource management.

FAO Renews Its Commitment to Right to Food Guidelines

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) launched its newest report on the Right to Food Guidelines on December 10, which focuses on that focused on the urgency of food security as well as the measures that will be taken by the organization to eradicate hunger and malnutrition in the coming decade.