The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are perhaps the most ambitious undertaking for global peace and prosperity since the formation of the United Nations. Achieving the goals requires that the UN system work together within and across countries like never before.
“I can tell you, perseverance pays,” says Bernadette Gomina, who ran unsuccessfully for the legislature in 2005 and 2010. She was elected in 2015 and reelected in 2020. “[Women parliamentarians] face issues at many levels: [lack of] finances, discriminatory behaviours and mindsets, but us women … we have our part to play; we must change our mindsets and get to work, together, to change this situation.”
You never know what crisis might strike, something that calls on the UN to act big and fast. If the world didn’t understand this before COVID-19, it does now. But an emergency can strike at any level.
For the world to respond to international crises, it needs an effective international organization. You’ve probably heard the maxim: If the UN didn’t exist, we would have to invent it.
It is a sunny day on the Nakai Plateau in central Lao People’s Democratic Republic, or Lao PDR. Noi has just returned from the market, where she bought a new shirt for her 3-year-old son, Seng. Seng has grown much taller in the two years since Noi left for Thailand in search of better wages.
Twenty young Beninese women, ages 16 to 24, who have dropped out of school, will learn to sew masks and make liquid soap, and will then take trainings on COVID-19 preventive measures, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, and the basics of leadership and women's entrepreneurship.
On 1 May, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Silvia Rucks of Uruguay as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Brazil, with the host Government’s approval.
United Nations country teams around the world continue to provide medical, logistical and socio-economic support to local authorities, coordinating resources to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. Through stronger coordination, these teams are mobilising local, regional, and global partners to provide life-saving medical supplies to vulnerable communities, combat misinformation on vaccine efficacy, and ensure equitable distribution of vaccine through the COVAX programme.
The United Nations is supporting India as the country battles a major surge in COVID-19 cases which on Wednesday saw the overall reported death toll top 201,000, according to latest World Health Organization (WHO) figures. Confirmed cases stand at just under 18 million nationwide.
Out of all children worldwide who die under the age of 5 years, half are in Africa. WHO, UNICEF and partners are working to reduce the number of childhood deaths and the agony that goes with them.
