UN Development Program

• June 24, 2022

This week, we focus on two crises in Africa: never-ending deadly setbacks of peacekeeping and the humanitarian needs on the continent. You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues before the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This week, we look at the …

Africa, Asia, Development, General Assembly, Governance, Humanitarian Aid, Secretary-General, Security Council, This Week @UN

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The UN Development Program Has 4 New Projects Funded by Russia, Despite Its Illegal War on Ukraine

Dawn Clancy

• June 22, 2022

In the waning days of 2021, roughly two months before its invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russia agreed to contribute $14 million to the United Nations Development Program for climate-related projects in Europe and Central Asia to begin this year. In fact, an agreement between Russia and the UN agency on one project, …

Development, Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Agencies

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How Well Can the UN Development Program Manage Global Climate Funding?

Anna Bianca Roach

• February 7, 2022

The United Nations Development Program is still facing calls for accountability regarding the reported mismanagement of a project that aimed to mitigate climate change and was funded by a primary entity in the UN system. The project ran from 2010 to 2017 and was meant to improve energy efficiency in Russia, but internal reviews …

Climate Change, Development

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THIS WEEK @UN

Trending UN News: Week Ending Dec. 10

Anna Bianca Roach

• December 10, 2021

UN human rights chief reiterates calls to end arbitrary detentions in Myanmar; seven peacekeepers killed in Mali; how is reform of the UN development system going? You are reading This Week @UN, summarizing the most pressing issues facing the organization. The information is gathered from UN press briefings, PassBlue reporting and other sources. This …

This Week @UN

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WORLDVIEWS

Good News From COP26: UN Members Agree on a New Enterprise to Transform Global Responses to Climate Change

Petteri Taalas, Achim Steiner and Inger Andersen

• October 31, 2021

Just days before the COP26 environment summit in Glasgow, Scotland, three of the United Nations’ lead agencies on climate and development each published alarming reports. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) produced evidence to show that greenhouse gases reached a new record high in 2020. Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases in the …

Climate Change, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Bonfire of the Vanities: Afghanistan and the Crisis of State-Building

Alan Doss

• October 28, 2021

The Taliban’s dramatic takeover of Afghanistan in August sparked a predictable outpouring of angst and argument as to why it happened despite the massive, two-decade effort to prevent that result. Much of the commentary focused on the supposed failures of nation- and state-building. It is important now to take stock of these concepts and …

Asia, Peace and Security, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

The Audacity of Change: A Specific Example of How the UN Can Still Make a Difference

Alan Doss

• March 23, 2021

GENEVA — One of the quiet pleasures of life is an early-morning cappuccino in the company of a good newspaper. That was before Covid-19 came along. The pandemic and resulting disruption of newspaper deliveries and shuttering of cafes has obliged me to suspend my habits of a lifetime. Pending the resumption of normal service, …

Development, SDGs, WORLDVIEWS

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COVID-19

Wanted: Small Investors to Boost Development Money Beyond Banks

Barbara Crossette

• August 31, 2020

For nearly two years, an international group of 17 specialists on the finance frontier have been connecting digital technologies to new sources of money for the faltering Sustainable Development Goals. On Aug. 26, they unveiled an ambitious report on what can be done when traditional pools of capital are broadened and deepened by including …

Covid-19, Development, SDGs

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COVID-19

In Latin America, Panama Battles the Coronavirus Between Two Oceans

Isabel Saint Malo

• June 11, 2020

PANAMA CITY, Panama — March 2 marked the beginning of the school year in Panama, when about a million students, a quarter of the population, headed for school. One week had passed when the first Covid-19 case was reported, a national emergency was declared and full lockdown began. My husband and I live with …

Covid-19, Latin America, SDGs

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WORLDVIEWS

Can UN Development Be Reformed? Not at This Rate

Stephen Browne

• January 6, 2020

GENEVA — Like his predecessors, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has been pushing a reform program to help the organization adjust to the demands of contemporary global governance. Over nearly 75 years, the UN has innovated and adapted. At first, humanitarian assistance was not envisaged to go beyond the needs of people displaced by …

Development, SDGs, WORLDVIEWS

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A Hindu-Muslim Friendship That Helped Shape How the World Measured Poverty

Barbara Crossette

• March 6, 2018

They were two young men studying at Cambridge University when they met in the wake of the bloody Partition of British India. One was a Kashmiri-born Muslim and the other a Hindu-born Bengali. But the two, Mahbub ul Haq of Pakistan and Amartya Sen from India, soon formed an intellectual bond and deep friendship. …

Asia, Development

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WORLDVIEWS

Advice to António Guterres: A Leaner UN Could Be a Better UN

Stephen Browne and Thomas G. Weiss

• March 27, 2017

GENEVA — Whether or not he is a fan of Chinese characters, António Guterres will have to discover the double meaning of a crisis as opportunity. United Nations corridors on First Avenue in New York are buzzing with anxiety about the possibility of impending cuts in funding from the United States, with hints from …

Secretary-General, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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WORLDVIEWS

Ironing Out the Kinks in the UN’s New Human-Rights Initiative

Gerrit Kurtz

• August 12, 2015

BERLIN — In December 2013, Jan Eliasson, the United Nations deputy secretary-general, went on a selling spree. In a series of briefings, he presented a new initiative to UN member states and to the rest of the world. In his address to the General Assembly, Eliasson said, not mincing words: “In improving the way …

WORLDVIEWS

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Ameerah Haq: ‘I’ve Had a Great Run — 40 Years’

Barbara Crossette

• December 15, 2014

Ameerah Haq, who will serve as vice chair of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s newly appointed high-level panel reviewing United Nations peace operations, has strong views on putting torn countries back together. Haq, a UN official about to retire after nearly four decades in the organization, began her career in the farming fields and villages of …

Peace and Security, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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The Business and Politics of Good Samaritans

Thomas G. Weiss

• March 30, 2013

“Humanitarian” and “business” are juxtaposed in the title of my new book, “Humanitarian Business,” for two reasons: provocation and accuracy. It jars those who idealize the humanitarian enterprise because the adjective has uncontested positive connotations while the noun is associated with wheeling and dealing and thus at odds with the self-image of true believers. …