We can Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals but it will take Courage & Urgent Transformations

The world is at a crossroads. This week, the United Nations Secretary-General, government ministers and senior leaders are gathered in New York at the ECOSOC Financing for Development Forum. (scheduled to take place April17-20).

Water is Life: How the UN in Samoa is Responding to the Triple Planetary Crisis

Water is life. No other definition captures quite so aptly what this essential element means for our lives, livelihoods and the natural environment.

Vulnerable Countries Need Action on Loss and Damage Today and Not at COPs To Come

In March 2023, more than 600 people died in Malawi after Tropical Cyclone Freddy dumped heavy rain, flooding the southern part of the country, displacing over half a million people, and damaging property and livelihoods.

Education Cannot Wait Interviews H.E. Mr. Khalifa bin Jassim Al-Kuwari, Director-General, Qatar Fund for Development

 
Mr. Khalifa Jassim Al-Kuwari is the Director General of the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), managing the State of Qatar’s foreign aid and international development activities. Since 2014, he led the establishment, strategy-setting, operationalization, partnerships and funding programmes of the Qatar Fund for Development in various developing countries.

Comoros Has Huge Untapped Investment Potential

In February 2023, the Union of Comoros ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Later that month, the country’s President Azali Assoumani took over as Chairperson of the African Union.

Positioning Education in Emergencies as Top Priority on International Agenda

 

 
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, speaks at the Education Cannot Wait (ECW) High-Level Financing Conference in February 2023 in Geneva. The event mobilized a record US$826 million for ECW and the global challenge to support the education of the 222 million girls and boys living in crises, positioning education in emergencies as a top priority on the international agenda.

During Ramadan Let’s Focus on Solidarity with Future Generations

As Ramadan continues through next week, the world’s 2 billion Muslims will focus on the core values of the holy month: helping the poor and committing oneself to the service of others.

Superbugs Among Top 10 Threats to Whole Cycle of Life

Research after research, world's scientists renew their loud alerts against the high dangers of human-driven ‘superbugs' - bacterias and pathogens that no longer respond to antimicrobials, making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death.

Afghan Tailors Flee to Pakistan After Ban on Stitching Women’s Clothing

"I had my shop in Afghanistan but came here after the Taliban's warning against stitching women's clothes. Now, I am working on daily wages in a shop owned by a local tailor master," Noor Wali, 32, told IPS.

India’s Bihar Leads Efforts to Strengthen Global Poverty Alleviation Through South-South Knowledge Exchange

Under the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society, Bihar’s government announced the development of a new Program for Immersion and Learning Exchange (ILE) to be headquartered in Patna.

Detoxifying Security: Recommendations for the G7 Summit on Nuclear Weapons

The current war in Ukraine has shown that nuclear deterrence is deeply flawed. It relies on the assumption of “rational actors” in power and credibility of threats, which we know are far from reality, especially in times of conflicts.

At the Mercy of the Algorithm

Excessive reliance on algorithmic management has raised concerns regarding its opaque decision-making mechanisms and implication for workers.

Neglected Tropical Disease Mycetoma Research Gains Momentum

The disease burden and distribution of mycetoma—a neglected tropical disease—are not very well understood. However, it is known to affect people in Sudan, Senegal, Mauritania, Kenya, and Niger, as well as people in Nigeria, Ethiopia, India, and Cameroon. Cases have also been reported in Djibouti, Somalia, and Yemen.

Platitudes not Enough: Urgent Investment Needed in Health Workforce

As World Health Worker Week draws to a close on April 7, health organizations from around the world have been celebrating women’s vital role in the health workforce and sharing stories about the enormous value they bring to all areas of health and care.

The Crisis Is Becoming Chronic, Fragmenting Society in Argentina

It’s a Monday morning in April on Florida, a pedestrian street in the heart of the Argentine capital, and a small crowd gathers outside the window of an electronic appliance store to watch a violent scene on a TV screen. But it is not part of any movie or series.

Transforming Education With Equitable Financing

With schools now reopened around the world, countries are called to take transformative action on education financing to recover and accelerate learning for all children, especially the poorest and most marginalized.

Poland Abortion Laws: Repression of Reproductive Rights and Out of Sync – Activists

“People want the abortion laws here liberalised. Society has changed; even the politicians can see it,” Kinga Jelinska, a Polish reproductive rights activist, says. “In four or five years, I believe, the abortion laws here will be liberalised, because it’s what the people support.”

Food Shortages Deepen in Cyclone-Devastated Vanuatu

One month after the Pacific Island nation of Vanuatu was hit by two Category 4 cyclones within three days, food scarcity and prices are rising in the country following widespread devastation of the agriculture sector.

Rethinking Public Debt as Positive Investment in Sustainable Development

The unprecedented fiscal firepower used to protect the vulnerable from the harsh socio-economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting economic contraction have pushed the average government debt level in the Asia-Pacific region to its highest since 2008.

US Legislators Strip China of “Developing Nation” Status

As signs of a new Cold War are fast emerging at the United Nations, the US continues its war of words with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The rivalry, which extends from Russia and Taiwan to Iran and Myanmar – where the UN’s two permanent members are on opposite sides of ongoing political or military conflicts– has now triggered a battle on semantics.

Andean Indigenous Women’s Knowledge Combats Food Insecurity in Peru

Paulina Locumbe, a 42-year-old peasant farmer who lives in ​​the Andes highlands of southern Peru, learned as a child to harvest and dry crops, one of the ancestral practices with which she combats the food insecurity that affects millions in this Andean country.