The powerful earthquakes that struck Afghanistan’s western Herat province, killing and wounding at least 1,400 people and flattening whole villages, have added to a mountain of hardship facing residents of this impoverished country - as a potentially deadly winter looms.
The UN team in Palestine, led by Resident Coordinator Lynn Hastings, called on the Israeli Government to rescind its announcement for UN agencies and Palestinians to ‘relocate to southern Gaza immediately’ without any guarantee for their safety or their return.
The Girls Education Project, a collaboration between the Nigerian government, UNICEF, and the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, has increased girls' enrollment in school and improved learning outcomes.
Migration often brings with it many risks for communities, such as sexual harassment, crime, and human smuggling given how porous borders are. With ITC's support, Ndey Fatou stepped away from the dangers of unsafe migration towards a thriving local enterprise.
Wage losses, job insecurity, and a rising cost of living crisis have been a common thread in the past few years, across the world, directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, decent jobs that deliver a fair, secure income for all are critical to tackling inequality and poverty. Social protection systems help vulnerable people find such jobs and improve their ability to cope with crises through increased access to education, health, and other social security nets, helping absorb the impacts of shocks without major social or economic setbacks.
Jena participated in an entrepreneurship trainings project carried out by UN Women, UNICEF and UNFPA in Sri Lanka that has helped over 90 women entrepreneurs to become economically independent and thus less vulnerable to violence.
The world needs to focus on the transformative entry points that can have catalytic impact for achieving the Goals: food systems; energy access and affordability; digital connectivity; education; jobs and social protection; and climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. This action has already begun. At the country level, Resident Coordinators and UN country teams have been on the ground working with host Governments to boost SDG progress and engagement in the areas it matters the most.
Current projections show that by 2030, nearly 660 million people will continue to live without electricity and 1.9 billion without clean cooking fuels. The world needs a transformed global energy system, that prioritizes access and affordability. We can get there with the right energy access policies and regulations, focusing on the needs of vulnerable communities.
Eight years ago, Member States gathered in this Hall to adopt the Sustainable Development Goals. A promise to build a world of health, progress and opportunity for all. A promise to leave no one behind. And a promise to pay for it. It was — always — a promise to people.
